Who knew the NCAA came after FCS programs for recruiting violations?

While jokes about the future of the Jackson State program were easy to make after Deion Sanders was hired at the school, turns out the program has just been hit by the NCAA for several violations.

Keep in mind, however, all the issues the NCAA found occurred at Jackson State before Sanders was hired by the school.

According to the NCAA, Jackson State had 34 student-athletes practice and compete before receiving final certification from the NCAA Eligibility Center. This is regarded as a failure to monitor the program.

The program also is charged for paying $300 to the godmother of a football prospect and arranging impermissible tutoring for a student-athlete. These are both Level II violations according to the NCAA.

Here is an outline of all the punishments the NCAA announced for Jackson State on Friday:

  • Two years of probation.
  • A fine of $5,000.
  • A 2% reduction in baseball scholarship equivalencies from the annual limit of 11.7 equivalencies during the 2021-22 academic year and a 2.5% reduction in football scholarship equivalencies from the annual limit of 63 equivalencies during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years.
  • The football program must serve a one-week ban on unofficial visits in each of January, February, March and April 2021.
  • A reduction of four football official paid visits during the 2021-22 academic year.
  • The football program must serve a one-week ban of all recruiting communication contacts and off-campus recruiting by the entire football staff with any prospects, including transfers, in each of May and June 2021.
  • A vacation of records of contests in which student-athletes participated while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 14 days of the public release of the decision.