North Carolina will mark Hakeem Nicks‘ school records with an asterisk after he was ruled to be competing while academically ineligible during his final season in 2008, the university said Thursday, according to the The Raleigh News and Observer.
The NCAA said Nicks, a star wide receiver, benefited from “academic fraud” by receiving improper academic help in 2008 from a tutor implicated in the scandal at UNC, the newspaper reported.
In March, the NCAA found UNC responsible for violations including academic fraud, impermissible agent benefits, participation by ineligible players and a failure to monitor the football program. UNC received three years’ probation and a ban from the 2012 postseason. The school also chose to vacate all 16 wins for 2008 and 2009, reduced nine scholarships over the next three academic years and put the program on two years of probation.
North Carolina acknowledged Nicks’ ineligibility for the first time Thursday, the newspaper reported.
Nicks, now with the NFL’s New York Giants, holds the Tar Heels’ record for career receiving touchdowns with 21, and TDs in a season with 12 in 2008. He also holds records for receiving yards in a career with 2,840, in a season with 1,222 in 2008, as well as the career receptions record with 181 and season record with 74 in 2007.
The asterisk next to Nicks’ name will refer to a note that says “participation later vacated due to NCAA penalty,” the News and Observer reported.
Via ESPN.com
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