Nicks played ineligible, will have records vacated

Former UNC wide receiver Hakeem Nicks was ruled academically ineligible in the 2008 season due to impermissible academic help and will have an asterisk placed next to his records.

Posted 1:28 p.m. Jul 20, 2012 — Updated 4:20 p.m. Jul 22, 2012

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Former University of North Carolina wide receiver Hakeem Nicks was one of two players ruled academically ineligible in the 2008 football season because he got extra academic help, the university confirmed Friday. The Tar Heels have had to forfeit all eight wins from that season.

The university discovered in 2010 that Nicks, a current member of the New York Giants, and two others, Omar Brown and Mahlon Carey,gave UNC players gifts worth about $3,300.

Archive: UNC investigation

The news of his involvement in academic fraud is new.

According to the Public Infractions Report given to UNC by the NCAA in March, an unidentified "student-athlete 1" gave gifts to student-athletes totaling over $3,000 and was himself listed as ineligible for the 2008 season.

The same student-athlete received impermissible help from a tutor, now known to be Jennifer Wiley. The report states , “the former tutor wrote conclusion paragraphs for five of student-athlete 1’s writing assignments in an education course.”

"Student-athlete 1" played while ineligible in 2008, but left the school following that year, a timetable which aligns with Nicks’ departure for the NFL.

Records show "student-athlete 1" gave other players jewelry, cash, airfare, lodging and entertainment in the spring and summer of 2010 adding up to over $3,200.

Nicks’ records, as well as the statistics and records of all players involved in the NCAA violations, including Kendric Burney and Deunta Williams, will be vacated and marked with an asterisk in the team’s media guide in compliance with the penalty levied by the NCAA, according to spokesperson Kevin Best

“I can confirm that the NCAA penalty for us was to vacate all wins and all statistics for anyone that was ineligible in 2008 and 2009,” said Best.

There is no defined way to indicate vacated records by the NCAA and schools have handled such cases in different ways. UNC submitted a report to the NCAA on how they would handle the vacation of statistics and records.

All the numbers will stand in place in forthcoming media guides, but those that have been vacated will get an asterisk and be accompanied by a note that says something to the effect of “later vacated due to NCAA penalty.”

In the season before the Giants made him a first-round pick, Nicks, who was a first-round pick by the New York Giants in 2009, set single-season school records for receiving yards with 1,222 and touchdowns with 12. He became UNC’s first ever single-season 1,000-yard receiver and holds school career records for receptions (181), receiving yards (2,580) and touchdowns (21). All of those records will be also be vacated under the terms of the NCAA penalty.

Story will be updated.

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