Powe situation blown out of proportion

Internet rumors seem to take a life of their own.

There were plenty of rumors and reports in the last 48 hours that Waynesboro (Miss.) Wayne County five-star defensive tackle Jerrell Powe got into an altercation after his team’s 27-21 overtime loss to Brookhaven in the Mississippi state playoffs on Friday night. His coach discussed those rumors with Rivals.com just moments ago.

Most of the speculation had centered on talk that Powe, the No. 2 player in the nation according to Rivals.com, had hit or pushed his coach, Marcus Boyles. Boyles dismissed that speculation.

"We got beat in overtime, and he got mad and had a few words for me,” Boyles said. “That's all that happened. There was no physical contact, he didn't get arrested, there were no police involved. The whole thing just got blown out of proportion, the way these things do."

According to reports, Powe returned to the field to confront Boyles as players from both teams exchanged handshakes near midfield following the game. Powe admittedly was angry with the loss, but wouldn’t divulge any details as to what happened.

“I was mad after the game. I hate to lose,” Powe told AuburnSports.com. “But I don’t want to comment about anything that happened afterwards. It was a misunderstanding and we are still a family.

“I guess it was just our time to go down. We’ve got two rings. We had a very successful season, but it was just time for somebody else. God has blessed us. That was only the third loss in my whole high school career. I’ll take that.”

Boyles said he’s never had trouble with Powe in the past and he believes this will be the first and last time something like this will happen.

"It was the heat of the moment,” Boyles said. “It's unfortunate this happened, but it was an isolated incident. I've never had any trouble with Jerrell in the four years he's played for me."

Powe said last week that he is leaning toward Auburn and has scheduled official visits starting this weekend with Nebraska, followed by visits to Texas A&M on December 10, Auburn on December 17 and then Ole Miss on January 21.