Controversy broke late on Thursday, as Charleston Southern players started sharing on social media about potential suspensions coming from the NCAA. The suspensions were related to rules broken by the players with how they spent their book money, which left many college football fans incensed at the harshness by the NCAA.
Late on Friday, Charleston Southern announced that 14 of their players would be suspended for Saturday's game against Florida State, and that 32 players would be suspended overall.
Charleston Southern University will withhold 14 players from Saturday's football game at Florida State. CSU self-reported to the NCAA financial aid violations related to book purchases. In total, 32 football players must serve a one-game suspension. Sixteen student-athletes suspensions were staggered over the first two weeks of the season and two additional players will serve their suspensions at a later date.
The statement also confirmed that the suspensions were for players spending book money from financial aid on other school supplies. According to the statement, that money is only allowed for book purchases and nothing more.
According to the Charleston Southern players, they were told that they could use the money to buy other supplies. This seems like an awful mistake in communication between the school and the players, but regardless, this seems like an extremely harsh punishment by the NCAA. If they really did buy school stuff with that money, does the NCAA really need to intervene like this?
