((HT: Athens Banner-Herald/Marc Weiszer))
Georgia self-reported eight NCAA secondary violations - four involving the football program - during the first six months of 2009, including one that came after a tip from the NFL Players Association led the school to discover that four players got complimentary tickets to an Atlanta Falcons game.
The NFLPA had concerns that agents had been inappropriately contacting a Georgia draft prospect, according to a copy of a letter sent by Georgia to Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive and obtained through an open records request.
The Georgia's player's name was redacted by the school, which cited a federal student privacy law, but fullback Shaun Chapas said Wednesday that quarterback Matthew Stafford got complimentary tickets.
The player told Georgia officials he got four tickets from NFL quarterback Jay Cutler ((pictured, thanks NashvilleScene.com)) for a November game. Cutler was playing for the Denver Broncos at the time and is now with the Chicago Bears.
The Georgia player told athletic department officials that he had known Cutler since his junior year of high school and had maintained a relationship by phone and text messages. The player said he texted Cutler for tickets for the Broncos' Nov. 16 game at the Georgia Dome.
Stafford was the top overall pick in April's NFL draft by the Detroit Lions and signed for an NFL-record $41.7 million in guarantees.
The players that got tickets, valued at $40 each, donated that amount to the Boys and Girls Club of Athens.
"We had to pay the money back for the tickets, which is fine," Chapas said.
The NCAA defines a secondary violation as "isolated or inadvertent in nature," and providing only a "minimal" recruiting or competitive advantage.
Georgia listed the violation as being reported on Jan. 9, two days after Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno held a news conference to announce their entry into the draft. The letter to Slive was dated Dec. 10.
This spring, Georgia pushed for an NCAA rule change that would allow players to get tickets from NFL players instead of getting them under the table, but it was shot down by SEC schools. Georgia athletic director Damon Evans wanted current college players to be permitted to get tickets from friends that were former teammates.
"It failed mightily," Evans said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla. "I think they were looking at all of the unintended consequences that may come out of it."
The other football violations were for a non-coaching staff member attending a coaching clinic, a UGA booster phoning a recruit after signing day and a coach leaving a message for a recruit after another coach spoke with the recruit the previous day.
Among the violations in other sports:
► The softball team exceeded the NCAA maximum equivalency limit by distributing 12.45 scholarships.
The NCAA permits 12.0. The case was reported in June and is not yet resolved. Georgia's scholarship aid could be reduced to 11.1 as a penalty for a year.
► The women's basketball coaching staff provided an additional hotel room for a recruit's mother while the recruit and mother were on their way to campus for an official visit.
► A women's tennis player received a grant-in-aid for less than a one-year period against NCAA rules and a track and field recruit took an official visit without being added to the NCAA's eligibility center's Web site.
All have been resolved by the NCAA and SEC except for two that were reported in June.
Georgia's eight violations were down from 15 in the second half of 2008 and 14 in the first half.
"I think based on our coaches, how they're acting, our monitoring, that's a relatively low number, which is indicative of our coaches doing the right thing," said assistant athletic director for compliance Eric Baumgartner.
No comments:
Post a Comment