Okay, let’s take this as a lesson in what happens in an instant media age.
On Monday evening, senior CB Kendric Burney went before the honor court to address an academic infraction. The results of the honor court are not made public but Burney himself told WCTI-12 that he would be eligible if he picked up a class on Tuesday. Burney apparently told other people he was cleared and would play vs Miami on Saturday which made its way to the message boards. The news Burney was cleared was tweeted by WCHL1360, picked up by this blog and reported as such. That has turned out to not be the case.
First of all, I apologize for reporting erroneous information on this blog. Consider this a retraction of the previous post.
Secondly, here is what is really going on.
According to UNC’s Kevin Best(via DTH sports editor Jonathan Jones), Burney’s status remains unresolved.
Kevin Best tells me that Burney will not be adding a class this late in the semester. He wants to end the rumors. Issue is still unresolved
So what is happening here? Obviously if Burney needs to add a class it means the honor court gave him a failing grade in a previous one. That means he is short the number of hours he needs to meet certain NCAA academic requirements to be eligible to play football.
At this point in the semester I do not think it is possible to add a class, that is something only UNC can fully answer. One question to ask if why did Burney conclude adding a class was possible if it wasn’t? Is it possible Burney prematurely telling people upset the apple cart and outed what was supposed to be a private process by which UNC and the NCAA work on an agreement to get Burney on the field? If so, Burney’s exuberance might be his undoing. Given the media scrutiny I can see how resolving the issue in such a way that allows Burney to play forces UNC to account for the process. Whereas if Burney goes to the honor court, is found guilty, received an F then UNC discusses it with the NCAA and makes an arrangement with them for Burney to play then all UNC has to do is put out a press release saying Burney is clear while using privacy laws as a means of not talking about how the sausage is made.
If I had to guess, I would say that this has become a bit of a PR issue which might make it difficult for UNC to get Burney on the field.
