Cornerback Charles Brown on Wednesday became the sixth North Carolina football player to be ruled out for the season.

The Tar Heels are still waiting to learn the fate of senior cornerback Kendric Burney, but the 2009 first-team All-ACC performer won't play against Miami on Saturday.

Brown joins defensive tackle Marvin Austin, receiver Greg Little, defensive end Robert Quinn, safety Jonathan Smith and safety Brian Gupton as players sidelined by the ongoing NCAA investigation into the football program.

Austin, Little and Quinn were dismissed, by either UNC or the NCAA, for receiving agent-related benefits and violating the NCAA's ethics policy on Oct. 11.

Due to privacy laws, UNC has not identified the players involved in the academic portion of the NCAA investigation, nor has it provided details of the cases tried in the schools' honor court. It has not designated Smith, Brown or Gupton as being a part of the agent-related investigation, either.

UNC, which has won four straight games since an 0-2 start, has had five players cleared since 13 players were either held out or suspended for the season-opener against LSU on Sept. 4. There are still three players whose status has not been resolved.

Burney was suspended by the NCAA for six games for receiving improper benefits on trips to Atlanta and Las Vegas and was originally scheduled to return for the Miami game. Before last Saturday's game at Virginia, though, the school announced that Burney had "unresolved issues."

In a statement released by UNC on Wednesday, the school said Burney "still has an unresolved issue related to the ongoing review and will not play this weekend at Miami. His case has not been resolved."

Other media outlets reported Tuesday that Burney had been cleared.

A teammate, safety Deunta Williams, even spoke after practice Tuesday as if he expected Burney to play at Miami. Williams was interrupted by associate sports information director Kevin Best, who corrected Williams and said Burney's status had not been determined yet.

Like Smith and Gupton, Brown will be given the opportunity to use this season as a redshirt and return in 2011. Burney redshirted in 2006, so he would not be eligible to return next season.

Staff researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.