Miami Scandal No Longer Allegations

[Harry]

 

Miami quarterback Jacory Harris, center, has a whistle in his mouth as he did not suit up for football practice in Coral Gables, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011. LYNNE SLADKY / AP

BY GREG COTE

GCOTE@MIAMIHERALD.COM

The grip of the scandal that would choke University of Miami football got a little bit tighter Thursday night. A little bit more real. More undeniable. More NOW.

This mess no longer is something that might hit the Hurricanes someday in future NCAA sanctions. It is no longer mere “allegations.”

The impact looks now to be immediate, in 2011, in the team UM is able to field in the season-opening game at Maryland only 10 days from now. The repercussions wrought by booster-from-hell Nevin Shapiro have stopped being the stuff of conjecture and have hit home as reality.

Miami declared eight athletes ineligible Thursday. All are believed to be football players, and they include likely starting quarterback Jacory Harris and linebacker Sean Spence, probably the team’s best defensive player.

Those players being declared ineligible is a necessary procedural move by UM, which in turn is now asking the NCAA to reinstate them. But the procedural move here is ominous, desperate. It is the university acknowledging that a significant chunk of its current team was not only implicated in the Shapiro scandal but also that there is reason to suspect their guilt in having accepted improper benefits in violation of rules.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/25/2375424/miami-hurricanes-scandal-no-longer.html

[Maduro]