West Virginia looking into another possible NCAA football violation
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia is investigating whether some football players wore more than just helmets during the first two days of practice, which would be a violation of NCAA rules. For acclimation purposes, NCAA rules stipulate shoulder pads can’t be worn until the third day of practice and full pads can’t be worn until the fifth day.
“We are aware that some players were wearing vests during the first two practice days,” WVU athletics spokesman Michael Fragale said Tuesday. “We are exploring further, we’ll declare a secondary infraction and document it through the appropriate process.”
West Virginia began practice on Saturday, just two days after the NCAA alleged the Mountaineers committed five major violations and one secondary violation from 2005 to 2009.
The Charleston Daily Mail posted a video on its website showing players in lightweight shoulder pads from Saturday’s practice. And WVU’s student newspaper, the Daily Athenaeum, posted file photos from the second day of practice in 2009 showing players also wearing light shoulder pads at practice.
WVU coach Bill Stewart declined comment after Tuesday’s practice.
In 2003, the NCAA eliminated early two-a-day practices and adopted the five-day graduated equipment rule in an attempt to reduce heat-related illnesses and the risk of injuries.
At Clemson during last year’s five-day early period, players wore shorts with padding, referred to as girdles. Clemson canceled two practices to make up for the infraction before the NCAA said the school could keep its full complement of workouts and no additional penalties were imposed.
At West Virginia, the earlier violations concerned student managers, graduate assistants and other non-coaching staff working with football players on their skills and techniques in violation of NCAA rules during the Rich Rodriguez era and under Stewart, who took over in 2008.
The NCAA said both Rodriguez and Stewart failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
Similar allegations were leveled against Rodriguez during an earlier, separate investigation at Michigan, which in May admitted it had committed a series of violations related to practice time and coaching activities.