"The NCAA is such an exploitative organization, and honestly, I blame them more than anyone else," Prasse-Freeman says. "As for Brown, all I can say is that I'm glad they got caught."

Brown's violations, however are certainly the exception in the Ivy League, as most schools in the conference have a relatively clean recruiting record. Yet, not all Ivies are created equal. Pennsylvania, for instance, has generally stronger athletic programs than other Ivy schools, while Princeton manages to recruit a strong basketball team nearly every year.

There are different recruiting practices among the Ivies, ranging from different academic requirements to what some believe are seriously unethical practices.

One generally accepted practice among the Ivies concerns the different acceptance standards based on academics. All Ivy League schools must assess their athletes academically before accepting them, but certain schools are given more leeway in this respect to compensate for a less prominent name.

According to sophomore Sam Taylor, who was recruited as a receiver on the football team, Harvard, Princeton and Yale are only allowed to admit very few athletes in the lower tier of their academic standards. Cornell, Pennsylvania, Brown and the other Ivies are permitted to accept a larger proportion of athletes from the lower tiers in order to compensate for their less conspicuous names.

"Namesake pulls everyone to Harvard, Princeton and Yale, so these other schools have to have some form of compensation," Taylor says.

According to Prasse-Freeman, Pennsylvania and Princeton regularly engage in a highly unethical practice known as "over-recruiting." Essentially, more players are recruited than needed to fill spots, and only the best of the crop are encouraged to stay.

"Basically, they bring in a ton of guys, pick the ones they want, and drop the rest," Prasse-Freeman says. "These kids are just left out in the cold and have already forfeited opportunities to play elsewhere."