No return for Austin, Quinn, or Little to the UNC football team

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What has been feared and suspected by North Carolina fans came true today, with UNC DT Marvin Austin being kicked off the team and DE Robert Quinn being permanently suspended from the program by the NCAA. Both players appear to be likely first round picks in the 2011 NFL Draft, and the fact that neither will play a snap of competitive football in the 2010 calendar year creates a major quandry regarding the evaluation of both men as they relate to the draft process.

Also on NCAA permanent suspension is UNC wide receiver Greg Little, who himself projects at this point as a 3rd or 4th round pick and likewise won't be involved with any competitive football in 2010. Little is 6'2" 215 pounds, runs an estimated 4.5 40, and is coming off of one of the best receiving seasons in Tar Heel history. Losing Little, along with Austin and Quinn, is a huge blow to a North Carolina program that looked to be loaded for 2010. UNC head coach Butch Davis stated the obvious today, saying that sitting out the 2010 season won't help Quinn, Austin or Little as it relates to their NFL futures.

Lying to the NCAA got Dez Bryant into big trouble in 2009. (Icon SMI)

Their college careers came to an end for two alleged reasons: accepting agent benefits and providing false and/or misleading information during the NCAA's investigation. It apparently really chaps the NCAA's ass to be lied to, as evidenced last year when Dez Bryant missed the final ten games of his Oklahoma State career largely because of him lying to NCAA investigators about his connection with Deion Sanders.

The UNC investigation connects with what I've written about the NCAA's Agent, Gambling and Amateurism Activities division, which has been cracking down hard on possible improprieties. They are doing their job, and doing it quite well by all indications, though what Bryant said last year disturbed me on a certain level as it relates to how the NCAA is operating its investigative procedures:

"I just felt the manner in which I was interrogated by the NCAA was an experience I never had before... The manner they asked the questions led me to believe that I did something wrong when in fact I had not. My mistake was not seeking advice prior to being interrogated and then turning around and not telling the truth."

The AGAA division of the NCAA is sharp and young and smart and has the energy and the conviction and the drive to find the facts. It was Marcus Wilson of the AGA who reportedly asked Scott Williams (the Oklahoma State assistant athletic director for compliance), "Why does [Bryant's] story keep changing?" That was the beginning of the end for Bryant as a collegiate athlete.

The AGA quartet is a very strong force, and while the crazy dirty money days of the early-mid 1980s Southwest Conference are long gone, the AGA is doing its job with great diligence in policing potential improprieties involving players and agents. Please don't misunderstand anything I write about the group as a criticism -- if nothing else, they're doing remarkable things with a skeleton crew and limited resources. But, as a whole, college football programs need to do more to reinforce to their players the importance of telling the truth to NCAA investigators.

It's my evaluation that Robert Quinn came into the 2010 season looking like the top defensive tackle prospect in the country. Now? It's very tough to know. Defensive tackle is similar to quarterback and wide receiver in being a boom-or-bust position in the NFL. Sure, there are plenty of busts at other spots, but QB, DT, and WR tend to be three positions that are more difficult for analysts, GMs, and casual observers alike to project accurately for players moving from the college level to the professional ranks.

Quinn is an elite athlete with the size and strength to play defensive tackle effectively. Is he worthy of a team investing a top five draft pick and the money that goes with it? That remains to be seen. For sure, Quinn will need to impress in off-season workouts to have a shot at being the first defensive player, or even the first defensive tackle, selected in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Over the weekend came a remarkable story from the Virginia Tech/Central Michigan game. In the first half of the victory by the Hokies, V-Tech offensive guard Greg Nosal somehow got his left hand crunched between two helmets. That happens to almost everyone who has played the game, myself included. What is not normal is the fluke occurrence where the collision managed to sever part of Nosal's left pinky finger. The front side with the nail was still attached, but the fleshy back part of his left pinky had been sliced off.

For many players, that would have been justification to call it a day. But not Nosal. According to the Washington Post, a Virginia Tech trainer who found the sliced portion of Nosal's left pinky, "[T]ook the finger, put it on ice and saved it for when it was ready [to be reattached]." That is team loyalty to an extreme level that makes me borderline uncomfortable.

After the game, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer praised Nosal, saying, "For him to continue to play, it says a lot about him and his effort for this football team." To be sure, it says a tremendous amount about Nosal's desire to help his team despite severe personal sacrifice. It also hints at the underlying pressures to play through pain that exists in game situations.

I mention this story not to gross anyone out (I personally dislike gore and gross-out type stories), but instead as a reminder of the pressures that exist, both internally and externally, for a player to stay in the game no matter what happens. What Nosal did was the stuff of legend, and his grit is to be admired. I just hope that when it comes to concussions that both players and coaches alike are coming around to the reality of the dangers that exist there (particularly with what has come to light as of late about chronic traumatic encephalopathy). There is a difference between gutting out pain and risking long-term brain damage.

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