Florida A&M communicated its concerns with North Carolina of a depleted roster throughout the day on Friday, which led to a wild three hours and speculation on social media that Saturday’s 8 p.m. opener at Kenan Stadium would not be played.
“I don’t want anybody to think they weren’t keeping us in the loop, they were making decisions in real time,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham told The News & Observer. “They got everything handled, but it would have been nicer if no one would have gotten it on Twitter.”
FAMU football coach Willie Simmons told Alison Posey of ABC27 in Tallahassee, Fla., that 20 players were ineligible whether by academics or related to their transfer status. It was apparently still an issue less than 32 hours before kickoff because Simmons expected an appeal to the NCAA to go through that did not. That’s why the Rattlers were faced with having to replace so many players so close to game time.
