Share

Charleston Southern suspends 14 players against Florida State

Charleston Southern, the seventh-ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision, was without 14 players who were serving a one-game suspension for violating NCAA rules by using financial aid meant for books to purchase other items.

Advertisement

Charleston Southern and the NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Two will be served “at a later date”.

“Obviously, we’re missing some people that are some good players for us”, Gamecocks coach Jamey Chadwell told local television station WCIV-TV before boarding a bus headed to Tallahassee, Fla. “Don’t feel sorry for us”.

Last week, Charleston Southern athletic director Hank Small announced that Chadwell would be suspended for the October 8 game against Albany State for improperly using social media to make contact with a recruit. Charleston Southern travels on the road in the hope of pulling off what would be the biggest upset win of the year today. Four of the Bucs’ first five games are on the road as Charleston Southern gets a bye next week, then hits the road once again to face Monmouth on September 24.NOTES: Florida State K Ricky Aguayo, who broke the school record last week with six field goals against Ole Miss, drilled a 46-yarder in the fourth quarter in his only try to cap the scoring in Saturday’s win. He flew to Tallahassee Saturday morning.

Friday’s suspensions come on the heels of violations by members of the Buccaneers coaching staff that resulted in one-game bans.

No. 3 Florida State plays its first game in front of the home crowd at a revamped Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday against Charleston Southern at 12:30 p.m. on the Raycom Sports Network.

“Under NCAA rules, student-athletes may purchase books and school supplies with financial aid provided to them to purchase books”. “Other items can not be covered by financial aid”.

Charleston Southern kicker Jacob Smoak misses wide on his game-winning kick attempt Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016, at the Fargodome.

“I was very proud of the guys that came down here under the circumstances and the way they fought”, Chadwell said. Taking away some seniors’ shot to impress National Football League scouts and hurting our image as men who have done our best to change the entire image of a program that was nothing short of a joke when we first got here.

“Other schools do similar things, and some teams even in our own conference get cost of attendance”, Korn wrote. They might not care, but I do. “Yeah, they messed up some things too”.

Running back Ben Robinson said he and more than 30 of his teammates were told of their suspensions on Thursday and given the choice to either sit out the Florida State game or their conference game the following week.

Advertisement

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Deondre Francois leads Florida State to victory, should be Noles' starting quarterback