COLUMBIA, SC - NOVEMBER 14: A general view of the Florida Gators versus South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

SEC school hit with recruiting violations at the start of the early signing period

Wow.

South Carolina is being penalized after two assistants "leveraged relationships with a high school's coaches" in order to gain a recruiting edge, according to the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions panel's release on Wednesday morning.

Below is an excerpt from the release:

"This case was resolved through the summary disposition process, a cooperative effort in which the involved parties collectively submit the case to the Committee on Infractions in written form. The NCAA enforcement staff, university and involved parties must agree to the facts and overall level of the case to use this process instead of a formal in-person hearing.

"The violations stemmed from the assistant coaches' two separate visits to the high school to observe a football team's workout during an evaluation period. While this evaluation is otherwise allowed under NCAA rules, the high school head football coach and strength and conditioning coach handpicked four prospects to perform drills exclusively for the assistant coach at the assistant coach's request. One week later, the strength coach pulled three of the same four prospects aside to perform drills exclusively for the other assistant coach."

Penalties for the incident include a $5,000 fine, as well as the following restrictions:

  • No recruitment of any of the prospects involved in the violations (self-imposed by the university).
  • Reduction of fall evaluation days by four, from 42 to 38, during the fall 2017 evaluation period (self-imposed by the university).
  • No engagement in off-campus recruiting activities at the involved high school from Sept. 1, 2017, to Aug. 31, 2018 (self-imposed by the university).
  • Suspension of each involved assistant coach from off-campus recruiting activities for 42 days during the fall 2017 evaluation period (self-imposed by the university).

The assistant coaches weren't identified by name in the NCAA's official release.