Tar Heel Fan

Okay, why didn’t UNC release this like two hours ago to avoid the circus at the bus loading?

UNC announced that six Tar Heels would be ineligible for the opener vs LSU and six others would be held out pending the conclusion of the investigation. Also, three other players were not traveling at this time. Here is the release:

The six ineligible student-athletes include: defensive tackle Marvin Austin, cornerback Charles Brown, cornerback Kendric Burney, wide receiver Greg Little, defensive end Michael McAdoo and defensive end Robert Quinn.

Six other student-athletes who will be withheld from Saturday’s game include: tailback Shaun Draughn, defensive end Linwan Euwell, safety Brian Gupton, tailback Ryan Houston, safety Da’Norris Searcy and safety Jonathan Smith.

The number of games that those 12 student-athletes may miss has not been determined at this time. The investigation continues to include both agent-related and academic issues.

The University also continues to work today with the NCAA to determine the eligibility status of three other student-athletes. Those three will not accompany the team to Atlanta on Friday morning. Further information will be announced when a decision on their status for the game is reached.

Robbi Pickeral at the N&O is reporting the three unnamed players with their eligibility flapping in the breeze are Quan Sturdivant, Bruce Carter and Deunta Williams. It is my understanding that these three could have their eligibility issues worked out and travel to Atlanta on Saturday.

So let’s be clear on what this means. If the list of 15 holds UNC will play LSU missing their entire starting secondary, two All-ACC caliber linebackers, two NFL prospect defensive linemen, their #1 WR and the lion’s share of the running game.I guess that means Zach Pianalto is going to have like 20 receptions or something. If UNC can get at least Carter, Sturdivant and Williams eligible that helps but I am extremely pessimistic about UNC’s chances in a game with huge chunks of key personnel missing from both sides of the football.

On a side note, Joe Schad is reporting on Twitter than there could be more which does not make line up with UNC’s position that anyone in question would not travel. By all accounts everyone is traveling sans the 15 players indicated by UNC and local media. It is possible UNC decides to hold players out on the basis of the academic probe but if there are others why not simply lump them in with the limbo trio?

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UPDATE: The AP is reporting via WRAL that UNC WR Greg Little will not travel to Atlanta for the season opening game vs LSU. No real surprise here considering Little’s connection to the seemingly eternal investigation into agent contact with UNC players. There are also rumors that Little is a part of the academic probe as well.

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The first shoe in the NCAA’s investigation into potential improper contact with agents by players at UNC, South Carolina, and Alabama has dropped as Alabama’s Marcell Dareus has been suspended for two games by the NCAA and ordered to repay $1700 and change to a charity of his choice.

According to NCAA guidelines, improper benefits of that amount should have resulted in a four-game suspension, but mitigating circumstances reduced the penalty by half. Alabama coach Nick Saban has indicated the Tide will appeal to try and get the suspension reduced to a single game. Pretty important for Bama, as they play Penn State next week.

It was reported earlier this week that SCAR would find out their fate before Thursday’s game against Southern Mississippi, but that did not happen. In addition to TE Weslye Saunders, who had been suspended for matters not related to the NCAA investigation, SCAR was looking at as many as ten players possibly held out for their involvement in the hotel benefits situation, but only two did not play: OL Jarriel King and DB Chris Culliver. King was one of the ten players possibly involved in the hotel benefits situation, but interestingly, Culliver was not.

In Chapel Hill, ACC Now’s Joe Giglio reports the afternoon passed with no news about who would have a seat on the bus to Atlanta. Giglio notes that Butch Davis said UNC could still be sorting out player issues through the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. Giglio also writes in a separate post that UNC did release an injury report without any surprises or any big names.

So what can be taken from the news on Marcel Dareus? Apparently the NCAA has decided there was agent contact at the party so that at least gives a road map on the minimum that can be expected for Austin and Little.

Meanwhile, no news is, well, no news. Bus loads in 12 hours; let’s see who is on it.

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Robbi Pickeral at ACC Now is reporting that UNC athletic director Dick Baddour has confirmed some members of the football team have been cleared in the ongoing investigation into academic misconduct. In addition, Baddour said Carolina will announce who will not make the trip prior to the team’s departure for Atlanta at 9:30 Friday morning:

He said the school has been able to clear some football players of wrong-doing, although he would not say how many, again because the investigation is ongoing. He also said that when the school announces who won’t make the Friday trip to Atlanta, it won’t mention the names of the players who have been exonerated.

“We would only mention names of people who were not on the roster,” Baddour said. “We would not mention names of people who had been in review on one side or the other, or cleared. We would only be talking about people who were not going to participate.”

Translation: We know you’re going to have the Kenan Football Center, team hotel, and Georgia Dome staked out on Friday to see who didn’t make the trip, so we’re going to go ahead and tell you who won’t be coming.

[UPDATE] ESPN’s Joe Schad is reporting as many as 16 players could be suspended for the LSU game. Schad writes:

A source said North Carolina may have to play without seven defensive starters, including numerous high draft choice projections.

Among the players in danger of not traveling with North Carolina Friday are: Austin, Quinn, linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant and cornerbacks Kendric Burney and Charles Brown.

A source said North Carolina may also be depleted at running back on Saturday. The top two running backs for the Tar Heels following spring practice were Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston. Wide receiver Greg Little has also been questioned about his trips, agents and papers.

No huge surprises here, except for the possibility running backs being involved. The defensive names have been kicked around since all this broke last week and with no NCAA resolution in sight for Little, it is not a stretch to imagine he would not play. Also, Houston was suspended from spring practice for academics and Draughn had an inopportune tweet recently about not knowing his professors and the names of his classes.

On the other hand, how does this information contrast with Baddour’s assertion that some players have been cleared? So many questions… In any case, carry on.

Continue reading Baddour Says Some Players Cleared; Travel List to be Released by Friday AM [UPDATED]

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For violations of team rules? What the…I give up.

University of North Carolina head coach Butch Davis has suspended senior defensive tackle Marvin Austin indefinitely.

“This decision is not a result of the ongoing NCAA review,” says Davis. “Marvin has violated team rules and has neglected his responsibilities to the team.”

Austin will not play Saturday vs. LSU.

You want my honest take? I have no freaking idea what this means. Seriously. We hear the “violated team rules” reason all the time but I have no clue what constitutes “neglecting his responsibilities to the team.” If anyone has a guess, feel free to toss it out there because I am having trouble coming up with even something wildly speculative.

UPDATE: Mark Armstrong at WTVD has tweeted the following about the Austin suspension:

Source tells me suspension is partially related to facebook post, but Austin has also been skipping classes, dogging it in practice cont’d

If that is true and it is likely the NCAA is going to suspend him anyway, I am not sure why he is still on the team other than it makes UNC appear to be passing judgment prematurely.

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It should be noted this is the second sudden move UNC has made today. This morning UNC went all Soup Nazi on the media by shutting down access to players and coaches which included canceling already scheduled interviews. I am going to go out on a limb here and say the isolation from the media is related to the Austin suspension announcement. I know, really daring risk I am taking there. For players and coaches to talk to the media then have this news breaks means said interviews are worthless and it looks like UNC was holding out.  The media access decision is also likely related to Robert Quinn and Kendric Burney tap dancing their way through a couple of interviews yesterday. The Quinn interview was described as painful/awkward. Burney fared much better according the message boards. Still, it is probably not a good idea to keep trotting these guys out there if they do not even know whether they will play vs LSU much less answer any investigation questions.

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Interesting piece from ESPN.com Page 2 columnist and current Sirius sports talk host Bomani Jones on student athletes and academics.

Continue reading Bomani Jones on the UNC Academic Scandal

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