2008 Woodie Awards
Crabtree cleared of violation, expected to suit up Saturday against Eastern Washington
Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: Sports
Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree has been cleared of any accused violation according to the NCAA.
According to Rivals.com, a Web site was planned to promote the receiver. Crabtree asked Tech officials if this was permitted, but he was told no. Before being told the Web site could not be created, the company in charge launched the site without permission, threatening Crabtree's eligibility. The company later apologized to Tech athletics, the Web site was taken down, and Tech self-reported the incident to the NCAA.
Tech athletics representative Robert Baker said the matter has been handled between the NCAA and Tech.
"The university became aware of a possible compliance issue involving a football student-athlete," he said. "We have looked into the matter and communicated with Big 12 and NCAA officials and found that there were no violations."
The violation in question included the NCAA rule that a student-athlete shall not receive any extra benefit. Receipt by a student-athlete of an award, benefit or expense allowance not authorized by NCAA legislation renders the student-athlete ineligible for athletics competition in the sport for which the improper award, benefit or expense was received.
NCAA spokeswoman Stacy Osburn said the information Tech gave about the violation helped clear it.
"To follow up," she said, "the NCAA worked with Texas Tech and based on the information provided by the university, there does not appear to be a violation."
Tech coach Mike Leach said the issue was a miscommunication.
"We had a student-athlete with an issue and that had to do with papers being stacked right and now they're stacked right," he said. "So it was mainly an office deal."
Crabtree never missed a practice and is expected to start in Tech's season opener against Eastern Washington at 6 p.m. Saturday in Jones AT&T Stadium.
According to Rivals.com, a Web site was planned to promote the receiver. Crabtree asked Tech officials if this was permitted, but he was told no. Before being told the Web site could not be created, the company in charge launched the site without permission, threatening Crabtree's eligibility. The company later apologized to Tech athletics, the Web site was taken down, and Tech self-reported the incident to the NCAA.
Tech athletics representative Robert Baker said the matter has been handled between the NCAA and Tech.
"The university became aware of a possible compliance issue involving a football student-athlete," he said. "We have looked into the matter and communicated with Big 12 and NCAA officials and found that there were no violations."
The violation in question included the NCAA rule that a student-athlete shall not receive any extra benefit. Receipt by a student-athlete of an award, benefit or expense allowance not authorized by NCAA legislation renders the student-athlete ineligible for athletics competition in the sport for which the improper award, benefit or expense was received.
NCAA spokeswoman Stacy Osburn said the information Tech gave about the violation helped clear it.
"To follow up," she said, "the NCAA worked with Texas Tech and based on the information provided by the university, there does not appear to be a violation."
Tech coach Mike Leach said the issue was a miscommunication.
"We had a student-athlete with an issue and that had to do with papers being stacked right and now they're stacked right," he said. "So it was mainly an office deal."
Crabtree never missed a practice and is expected to start in Tech's season opener against Eastern Washington at 6 p.m. Saturday in Jones AT&T Stadium.
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