Report: Alabama Football Players Used Deer Antler Spray Before 2012 National Championship Game

by Doug Kyed on Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 10:09AM

It seems that Ray Lewis wasn’t the only football player trying to get a leg up on his competition using deer antler velvet extract spray.

In the same Sports Illustrated story that said the Ravens’ linebacker may have used the spray, which contains IGF-1 — a banned substance in the NFL and NCAA — to recover from a torn triceps, it was also alleged that multiple Alabama football players met with S.W.A.T.S.’s Mitch Ross and Christopher Key prior to the 2012 BCS National Championship Game against LSU.

The story says former defensive end Quinton Dial, former linebacker Alex Watkins and junior outside linebacker Adrian Hubbard were introduced to the spray the night before the game in a hotel room. Watkins endorsed the products on YouTube six months later, saying the the spray, holographic stickers and negatively charged water helped give him a boost against LSU. Alabama is aware of the accusations and have tried to keep the company away from their players.

“UA has been aware of this situation for some time, and we have monitored this company for several years,” Alabama’s assistant to the president and associate vice president for university relations, Deborah Lane, said in a released statement on Tuesday. ”They have twice ignored cease and desist letters sent by our compliance office. We have maintained consistent education of our student-athletes regarding the substances in question and will continue to do so.”

Key was arrested for trespassing after giving holographic stickers and beam-ray treatment to an LSU player in his hotel room at the Senior Bowl in 2010. Charges were dropped, but he’s still banned for life from the hotel.