Charleston Southern running back Ben Robinson shared the news on his Facebook account Thursday night, saying at least 30 of his teammates and he were notified about possible misuse of money given to players to purchase textbooks at the student bookstore.
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This week the third-ranked Seminoles are planning to roll up their sleeves to start the game against Charleston Southern at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee (12:30 p.m. ET), and that includes Fisher and Francois, who rolled up 500 yards total offense in the shocking rally over highly touted Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly.
“Under NCAA rules, student-athletes may purchase books and school supplies with the financial aid provided to them to purchase other books”, the school’s release stated.
Overall, 32 players will serve one-game suspensions – 16 have already served their penalties and two others will sit out at a later date.
As the NCAA rulebook lays out, schools can give out money for book purchases, but only the exact amount needed to buy the books. “Other items can not be covered by that financial aid”, the school said in its statement. In a statement Friday, the university said it is working with the NCAA, the Big South Conference and “an outside consultant” to review any additional rule violations. Charleston Southern won the Big South Conference a year ago and advanced to the quarterfinals in the program’s first-ever FCS playoff appearance.
Neither Chadwell nor the athletic administration has clarified the situation per the Florida State game or expounded on when players are serving suspensions.
A play-making safety, James was crucial in Florida State’s win against Ole Miss during the opening week of the season.
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN: It is hard enough for an FCS team to compete with a top 25 program with an intact roster, but without almost half of their starters, the Buccaneers at least can say they averted a shutout. The protection of its students/athletes should be a number one priority.
“We would have leftover book money and the workers in the bookstore advised us to spend the money because we would not get it back, so we did”, Robinson continued.
As both teams and dozens of others move on from a wild Week 1 of the 2016 college football season, let’s look at what teams have most often been on either side of the comeback/blown lead spectrum.
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Florida State was able to run the nation’s longest home winning streak to 22 games on Saturday and will play its first true road game next week against Louisville. I was proud of the way they competed. Florida State won the game 52-8. “Who wasn’t here didn’t make us fumble the ball with nobody touching us”. James is one of Florida State’s top players – offensively or defensively – and if the injury is serious could leave a huge whole in the Seminoles’ secondary.
