It was a busy day around the Texas football team on Friday. While the morning was reserved for clearing players off the roster, the afternoon was apparently dedicated to welcoming a few others back.
"Earlier this summer, Texas reported a situation to the NCAA involving two Longhorn student-athletes receiving a meal from an agent. That situation has been resolved with NCAA staff and the involved student-athletes are immediately eligible for competition," the school announced in a statement.
According to a report from Orangebloods.com earlier in July, linebackers Jordan Hicks and Steve Edmond were the two athletes allegedly involved in the incident with the agent and at the center of the investigation. Documents obtained by the Austin American-Statesman showed the school reported to the NCAA enforcement staff on June 6 that two Longhorn football players received a meal paid for by an agent and that they were looking into the matter with the cooperation of their colleagues from Indianapolis.
Defensive linemen Desmond Jackson and Cedric Reed, the latter a possible first-round pick in 2015, were also reportedly mentioned in tweets by the same agent that might have prompted the original investigation. At Big 12 Media Days, Reed told reporters that he was 100 percent cleared and that the matter was being handled by the Texas compliance office.
The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from accepting any benefits from agents (or their associates), as well as any extra benefits not available to other students. Players also cannot enter into any kind of representation agreement with an agent or any third party.
If a player does accept an extra benefit, the player typically must repay the value of the benefit and serve a suspension that is directly related to the size of the extra benefit. Texas did not make clear if any of their student-athletes had to repay anything, only that they would be eligible without missing any playing time.
Either way, for Texas fans who heard about player after player being dismissed from the team on Friday, this is a bit of welcome news as the Longhorns are just a few days away from opening their first fall camp under new coach Charlie Strong.
Follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter @BryanDFischer.
