Isaiah Crowell Ineligible Temporarily; Mark Richt Collects Violations (Updated)

Georgia's star running back recruit Isaiah Crowell has been declared ineligible due to the fact that the school simulated a gameday experience during his official visit in January. Seeing as how it is a secondary violation, Crowell should be reinstated in the not-too-distant future.

What happened was the starting Bulldog offense lined up without a running back on the football field and Crowell was given a jersey while standing in the running back position. Mark Richt didn't believe that to be a gameday simulation, but the SEC interpreted it as such and therefore UGA reported it to the NCAA. I can't think of a single time where an athlete missed any meaningful team activities due to an improper gameday simulation on a recruiting trip.

Richt, for his part, got a letter of admonishment and will not be allowed to call recruits or their families in April. It also means that Georgia committed violations in the recruitment of their biggest offensive and defensive prospects. UGA reported five secondary violations due to a pair of former Bulldog players being present at Ray Drew's announcement. Of course in Drew's case, the decision had already been made and their presence didn't give UGA any kind of advantage.

Perhaps this is a reversal of the old adage about players taking on the character of their coaches. Georgia players are notorious for picking up minor and usually meaningless traffic violations; now Richt is picking up minor and mostly meaningless recruiting violations too.

UPDATE

The NCAA has already reinstated Crowell. Not that it was ever in doubt.