Odell Beckham Jr. Punished For Handing Out $2,000 To LSU Players At National Championship

Odell Beckham Jr. has been hit with a two-year ban from LSU's facilities as punishment for making it rain during the 2019 national championship game, according to Sports Illustrated. Beckham Jr. was seen slapping handfuls of $100 bills into the hands of players. LSU initially said it was fake money, but that storyline quickly went up in flames when Joe Burrow confirmed that it was, indeed, real money.

"I'm not a student-athlete anymore, so I can say yeah," Burrow said about the money on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take." LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson, now with the Minnesota Vikings, said he donated the money to his church.

The school self-reported the incident as a Level III violation, but it wasn't the only violation the school reported to the NCAA. Hoping to stave off further punishment, the school says it will cut eight football scholarships over two years and will reduce recruiting efforts after it was discovered a booster made payments to the father of a football player.

In that booster case, the father of LSU player Vadal Alexander received $180,000 in stolen money from a man who admitted to embezzling half a million dollars from a Baton Rouge hospital.