NCAA gives Heels' Ramsay another year

CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina fullback Devon Ramsay served a suspension for the final nine games of the 2010 season amid the NCAA's investigation into the Tar Heels' football program. After the NCAA cleared him, Ramsay returned for his senior season, played in one game and then suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Now the NCAA has granted Ramsay a hardship waiver that will allow him an additional year of eligibility, according to a statement that UNC released on Saturday.

During the fall of 2010, Ramsay was one of many UNC players who found themselves ensnared in the NCAA's investigation into academic fraud and impermissible benefits within the Tar Heels' football program. He played in UNC's first four games that season before officials discovered an email exchange between him and former UNC athletics tutor Jennifer Wiley, who was one of the central figures in the NCAA investigation.

In that email exchange, Wiley in November 2008 provided Ramsay with help on a three-page sociology paper. Because of that, the NCAA ruled Ramsay permanently ineligible.

Ramsey's mother, Sharon Lee, then began a long fight to clear her son's name. She acknowledged that Wiley had helped her son, but insisted that Ramsay had been punished for simply doing what he was supposed to do - for seeking assistance from a tutor whose job was to assist UNC athletes.

The NCAA eventually agreed that the help Ramsay received from Wiley did not constitute a violation.

Ramsay, who missed the 2007 season with a shoulder injury, caught one pass for 18 years in the Tar Heels' season-opening victory against James Madison in September. He tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during the same game, and his college career appeared to be over until the NCAA granted him an additional year of eligibility.