Former DL coach's prohibitive phone call lands UGA a minor violation
Georgia's football program committed two minor NCAA violations that happened last fall, according to a document obtained by The Telegraph through the state's Open Records Act.
One violation occurred when two separate assistant coaches made phone calls to a prospective student-athlete during one week. A first assistant made a permissible phone call on Sept. 8, 2016. Former defensive line coach Tracy Rocker then made a second phone call to the prospective student-athlete's father a day later, resulting in the NCAA violation.
This second phone call lasted one minute.
The coaching staff's punishment was that it was unable to make phone calls to this particular prospective student-athlete for two weeks from Nov. 13-26, 2016.
The football coaching staff was also provided information on rules education with phone calls in recruiting. Not scheduled to make that phone call, Rocker received a letter of admonishment.
While Rocker's violation was released the same day his notice of termination was, the two incidents are not related.
A second violation occurred when a guest of a student-athlete took photographs of an unofficial visit and posted them to a media entity's website. Actions taken included the photographer receiving a written notice "prohibiting her from receiving any further complimentary tickets as a guest of a prospective student-athlete." The photographer will also be unable to receive media credentials.
A third violation was reported after a non-coaching staff member returned a phone call to a high school coach about a prospective student-athlete's eligibility. In addition to rules training, the staff member was prohibited from receiving calls from the prospective student-athlete for 30 days and the Georgia coaching staff was banned from contacting the prospective student-athlete for seven days.
This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Former DL coach's prohibitive phone call lands UGA a minor violation ."