North Carolina announced Monday that 13 players, including some returning starters, will miss at least one game due to suspension, and nine athletes will be suspended four games following a secondary NCAA violation committed by each of the athletes during this past offseason.
Posted 1:31 p.m. today Updated 31 minutes ago
By Marilyn Payne, WRAL Multimedia Sports Journalist
Chapel Hill, N. C. — North Carolina announced Monday that 13 players, including some returning starters, will miss at least one game due to suspension, and nine athletes will be suspended four games following a secondary NCAA violation committed by each of the athletes during this past offseason.
The suspensions come down after the UNC self-reported the violations that came from players selling team-issued Nike Jordan Brand shoes following the end of the 2017 season.
Senior defensive end Malik Carney and sophomore quarterback Chazz Surratt are the biggest losses for the Tar Heels. Carney started every game for UNC, while Surratt started seven and competed in nine as the team’s leading passer.
«We are disappointed,» director of athletics Bubba Cunningham said. «Chancellor (Carol) Folt, coach Fedora and I have high expectations of all of our students, coaches and staff, and we expect everyone to embrace and abide by all team and NCAA rules. We always will strive to get better.»
— Senior defensive end Malik Carney: Four games* ( East Carolina, UCF, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech). Carney was UNC’s tackle-for-loss and sack leader in 2017, finishing with 5.5 sacks, 12.0 tackles for loss and 57 total tackles after starting all 12 games.
— Sophomore quarterback Chazz Surratt: First four games. Surratt started seven games in 2017 and appeared in nine. He lead the team at QB with 1,342 passing yards and eight passing touchdowns. He completed 107 of 183 attempts. Surratt also scored five rushing touchdowns.
— Sophomore defensive lineman Tomon Fox: Four games* (Miami, Syracuse, Virginia and Georgia Tech). Fox started two games in 2017 and appeared in all 12. After redshirting in 2016, Fox finished last season with the second-most sacks on the team (4.0) and recorded 23 tackles.
— Sophomore wide receiver Beau Corrales: First four games. Corrales averaged15.9 yards per catch on nine receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns last season.
— Sophomore linebacker Malik Robinson: First four games. Robinson appeared in 11 of UNC’s 12 games last season, primarily on special teams. He recorded six tackles in 2017.
— Sophomore defensive end Tyrone Hopper: First four games. Hopper finished last season with eight tackles and one sack after playing in nine games at DE.
— Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jordan Tucker: First four games.
— Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Quiron Johnson: First four games. Walked on to the team in 2017.
— Redshirt sophomore defensive back Greg Ross: Two games. Ross played in three games, finishing with one pass break up in 2017.
— Sohpomore defensive back Tre Shaw: Two games. Shaw competed in every game last fall, recording nine tackles.
— Quarterback Jack Davidson: First game. Davidson is a walk-on from Myers Park who has never appeared in a game.
— Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jonah Melton: First game. Melton has never appeared in a game.
UNC requested and the NCAA approved staggering Fox and Carney’s suspensions to limit the impact of the loss of two anticipated starters in the same unit, citing «the health and safety of the students.»
Head coach Larry Fedora emphasized that each year players are taught by compliance about the rules regarding gear handed out to the team. «Specifically, that the sale of apparel and equipment is an NCAA violation. Every single player signs an agreement acknowledging those rules,» he said. Cunningham brought up the role that the football coaching staff also plays in reinforcing the importance of the rules.
«I am certainly upset by our players’ actions and how their choices reflect on them, our program and the university,» Fedora said. «These young men knew better. These young men knew the rules and are being held responsible for the poor choices they have made. Accountability is an important core principle in this program. We will learn from this and aim to do better in the future.»
«I have been told (that I can’t sell my gear) multiple times,» quarterback Nathan Elliott said.
After 150 pairs of Nike Jordan brand shoes were distributed to players, 15 pairs were sold, and nine pairs have still not been recovered by the university.
WRAL-TV broke the news of the violations July 18, reporting that UNC self-reported the violations in February. The NCAA case summary classified the violations as secondary/Level III and said that the decision was reached on March 23. UNC became aware of the possible violations, per the case summary, on Jan. 13.
Cunningham explained that UNC reacted quickly to seeing a social media post and receiving an email to the UNC AD account about the shoe sales in January — «within 12 hours of finding out about it» — and had the shoes which were being sold collected from the student athletes and football staff members.
Fedora said he met with the players who are suspended early in the week before the entire team reported for camp (last Thursday) and told them what their suspensions were, then the head coach met with the entire team. He said he has not addressed the suspensions with the team since camp began.
The process of managing reps in spring ball and in training camp, plus the practices in between games from which players are suspended, is something that Fedora and his staff have been working on for months, even before they knoew how the NCAA would rule. For now, all players – suspended and not – are working through training camp in the same way they would otherwise.
«We’re in our install periods now. We’re installing all of our schemes on offense, defense and special teams,» Fedora said Monday. «Everybody gets all of that. We don’t change anything rep wise up until the first scrimmage. After that, we will start pulling back reps from some of those guys that won’t be in some of those games and we’ll be adding reps to other guys.»
Fedora described a quarterback battle when he last spoke about his team publicly at ACC Kickoff, the day the news broke about the NCAA violations. On Monday he confirmed that with Surratt’s suspension, Nathan Elliott is the quarterback for North Carolina’s first game.
