Sixteen Ball State University football players will be suspended for this weekend's game at Boston College due to the discovery of more violations in the extra benefits policy.
The team was originally supposed to miss only five players for the game - Cortlan Booker, Eddie Burk, Amara Koroma, Lavell Mosley and Donta Smith.
The additional 11 players are Larry Bostic, Tom Kellar, Erik Keys, Blair Kramer, Temidayo Macarthy, Ryan McKee, Todd Racine, Brad Salyer, Bryan Smith, Bryan Williamson and Charles Wynn.Ball State notified the NCAA for final approval of the 16 suspensions on Monday.
"I'm confident that's what it will be," athletics director Bubba Cunningham said. "And I wanted to give everyone as much notice as I could. We're trying to get as many cleared up as we can, as quickly as we can."
Of the 16 suspensions, four players - Bostic, Kramer, Salyer and Bryan Smith - were not originally named in the investigation. A fifth, Keys, was originally named but only had to repay the amount because it was less than $100.
Fourty-eight athletes were named in early-September for violating the extra benefits rule. The athletics department self-reported itself in May to the NCAA for 25 athletes violating the bylaw and continued to look into the violations during the summer. Athletes from seven teams have been found in violation.
There have been no other new violations discovered from other Ball State teams, but the athletics department continues to look into the violations for every sport. Cunningham said he expects the investigation into the football players' involvement to be "done very soon," while the remaining sports will "hopefully be done by the end of the semester."
Head football coach Brady Hoke said he learned on Sunday who would be suspended for the Boston College game.
"To me, to some degree, it's undeserving of the kids," Hoke said. "Yeah, we made mistakes, but I think the kids deserve better. They weren't selling books."
Cunningham said Ball State continues to be in contact with the NCAA and continues to give updates on the progress of the investigation.
"They're guiding us in what we need to do," he said. "There's no certain proclamation coming from them. They just try to guide you along the process."
Beyond the Boston College game, Cunningham said he didn't know of any additional suspensions for the football team. Booker is the only suspended player listed for the Western Michigan game.
"That's all we know right now, is for the Boston College game," Cunningham said. "As soon as we get full information, we'll report it the same way."
The suspensions force the football team to travel with only 56 players including five defensive linemen, none of whom were originally expected to start. Hoke said the team would normally travel with eight linemen.
"The thing I can tell you, they're not selling books," Hoke said. "They weren't doing that. You got a guy who got $500 cash from a booster. Everybody knows that's illegal. Everybody knows that. And he misses two games? That makes no sense, and he's a hero. There's a guy who got three felony charges against him and played Bowling Green. And he's playing football? And these kids got books for walk-ons?"
Of the 16 football players suspended, four were not among the athletes originally suspended in early September.
"These are good kids - good kids," Hoke said. "Did they make some mistakes? Yeah, they made some mistakes. But I think the system better be in place so those mistakes don't happen - accountability for that."
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