BREAKING NEWS: NFP – Austin may be suspended for the season

Hat tip to the quick find by the great team at TomahawkNation, who have to be following this story even more closely now that the University of Florida has been connected to it.

The National Football Post has a an entry linked here that TomahawkNation summarizes as follows:

* UNC athletics officials are not optimistic.
* Marvin Austin, one of not the top defensive tackles in the country is likely to be suspended for senior year.
* Wide receiver Greg Little, safety Deunta Williams, cornerback Kendric Burney and linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant could also face punishment.
* South Carolina TE Wesley Saunders and Austin have been told not to associate with each other.
* Austin and Saunders have been regularly comparing notes on agents and marketing representatives throughout the recruiting process, including what inducements the various businesses are offering to try to win them over.
* Smoking gun here appears to be trips to D.C. & South Beach

Poor “MA” had to quit his Twitter account and now this?!

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Big Four Rivals College Football UNC Scandal

36 Responses to BREAKING NEWS: NFP – Austin may be suspended for the season

  1. NCStatePride 07/19/2010 at 2:54 PM #

    Rivalries aside, he gets what he deserves. Wonder if this is the NCAA’s recommendation or UNC trying to release a few pressure valves.

  2. lsutton5144 07/19/2010 at 2:54 PM #

    The good news just keeps on coming!

  3. graywolf 07/19/2010 at 2:58 PM #

    lsutton5144 Says:
    July 19th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
    The good news just keeps on coming!

    And my it continue to get worse……..

  4. VaWolf82 07/19/2010 at 3:22 PM #

    South Carolina TE Wesley Saunders and Austin have been told not to associate with each other.

    I’m not sure that this is legal. I doubt if either the school or the NCAA can tell someone who they can talk to…or more specifically, the school/NCAA won’t be able to do anything if Austin and Saunders continue talking with each other.

  5. StateFans 07/19/2010 at 3:32 PM #

    If both of their college careers are over, then it won’t matter. They can become roommates for all it would matter.

  6. Plz2BStateFan 07/19/2010 at 4:22 PM #

    The ESPN article about the Flordia investigation discusses a player receiving 100,000 dollars….If this is connected somehow to USC and UNC, then the potential NCAA violation could be similar in scope to that kind of payoff.

    That is not something the player can pay back or would want to pay back.

  7. wufpup76 07/19/2010 at 4:44 PM #

    Time for the RICO Act everybody … 🙂

  8. bradleyb123 07/19/2010 at 5:01 PM #

    I was afraid they would suspend one or more players, and they would just pack their bags and head for the NFL. But apparently, the only way they could do that would be to have entered into the NFL’s Supplemental Draft. Apparently, that was held the Thursday BEFORE the NCAA showed up in Chapped Hole.

    Is it just me, or was the timing of this investigation just beautiful… and also intentional? I believe the NCAA didn’t want any guilty parties to have the option of heading for the NFL.

    Bravo!

  9. old13 07/19/2010 at 5:18 PM #

    ^ My thoughts exactly!

  10. Pack78 07/19/2010 at 5:33 PM #

    Loving every minute of this; just want to be sure that no Pack players have been dumb enough to associate with these tar hole slimeballs…

  11. Wulfpack 07/19/2010 at 5:36 PM #

    I don’t reall care what it means for Austin but I am just glad that it seems the NCAA is intent on finally trying to clean this crap up. I hope it succeeds, but something tells me this is just the tip of the icberg and they are ill equipped to deal with it.

  12. Plz2BStateFan 07/19/2010 at 6:17 PM #
  13. tuckerdorm1983 07/19/2010 at 6:38 PM #

    it couldn’t happen to a nicer group of guys. I wish the best for them. Oh and their agents that gave them all that cash and gifts. They deserve it. Rules are for suckers and Butchy just looks the other way. Hear no Evil, See no Evil , Speak no Evil.

  14. Sw0rdf1sh 07/19/2010 at 6:40 PM #

    “Smile and wave boys. Smile and wave.”

  15. coach13 07/19/2010 at 7:38 PM #

    As long as the stench lies to the west i will remain elated. Maybe we can get rid of this “National Champion Sleeper” crap now.

  16. T-FIC 07/19/2010 at 8:00 PM #

    Although it’s nice to have the bad press be about UNC, I know where this will inevitably lead – an excuse for any poor showing their entire season.

    I never got the hype about the UNC squad this year. I don’t like that they can point to Austin being suspended as why they didn’t achieve any top 25 rankings.

    I also wanted their very best against our very best when we play. I still think we would own them.

  17. Gowolves 07/19/2010 at 8:19 PM #

    I think we have owned them since MA showed up in Crap Hole. I think RW showed that this “incredible” defense is overrated due to the weak ACC. Their defense can’t hold a candle to Mario Williams senior year

  18. blpack 07/19/2010 at 8:35 PM #

    Kudos to TOB and staff for beating those paid professionals 3 years in a row. This thing is not going away, Butchy.

  19. wolfonthehill 07/19/2010 at 11:40 PM #

    Interesting (and satisfying) to me that the list of potential targets coincides almost exactly with the list of guys who’ve repeatedly shown their asses and proven themselves to be nothing short of first-class assholes.

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer crew…

  20. stejen 07/20/2010 at 12:22 AM #

    This story is now on SI.com. Don’t think the local media can play igrnorance much longer

  21. mafpack 07/20/2010 at 2:24 AM #

    ^^ not just on SI.com but the main headline story. ‘NCAA Cracking Down’ with a picture of Austin in full Carolina blue… stinking awesome.

  22. Pack78 07/20/2010 at 6:20 AM #

    If the NCAA has to be the entity that comes in and suspends MA, as opposed to unx, doesn’t this define the term “lack of intitutional control” ?

  23. wolfonthehill 07/20/2010 at 7:45 AM #

    And yet, today’s N&O online edition has 5 articles in the “College Sports” block on their sports page.

    One headlined “UNC players to meet” – and that’s it – some mentions of the investigation, but nothing resembling investigative reporting on their part, and nothing in the headline about it.

    Two headlines about unc-ch basketball recruits starring in the East-West games going on.

    And two about other topics.

    So of the five, two are positive about unc-ch, one is neutral, and two are about other topics.

    No idea about the print version – haven’t seen it in 10 years.

  24. tuckerdorm1983 07/20/2010 at 7:56 AM #

    arrogance, sheer arrogance!!

  25. GAWolf 07/20/2010 at 8:18 AM #

    I’m developing a new theory on how this thing might play out. Austin is a mouthy fellow, and so is Little. From all accounts, especially those in the local media, it seems that the information channels coming out of Chapel Hill are placing every ounce of the focus on a small bunch of players including Austin and Little. In essence, these guys are getting thrown under the bus for what UNC is pitching as individual actions associated with agents outside of the knowledge of the athletic department or football staff. Obviously this could very well be true, but as more information comes out it seems less and less likely that people in positions of authority at least within the football program could have had no idea this stuff was going on.

    And so it seems that if these two especially get kicked while they’re down by the University in an effort to deflect the entity’s share of the responsibility that they could easily turn on them. What’s the point of staying loyal to an institution that betrays you when the going gets tough?

    Again, that’s just another theory…. and if Austin is in fact suspended for the year and cannot go to the NFL until NEXT year, he certainly cannot be too happy about that. I’m not sure what sort of inducement he got from the staff to stay for this year and skip out on the NFL, but I’m sure he’ll feel like he was betrayed if they continue to throw him to the wolves in the media.

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