Quinton Coples was one of only two former North Carolina players to be selected in the NFL draft. PHOTO: Getty Images

CHAPEL HILL — The NFL draft concluded on Saturday after only two of North Carolina’s prospects – defensive end Quinton Coples and linebacker Zach Brown – were selected. Dwight Jones, the wide receiver, ended the draft on the outside looking in. So, too, did cornerback Charles Brown. And defensive tackle Tydreke Powell. And Donte Paige-Moss, the defensive lineman who left school early to enter the draft.

Even Coples and Brown went lower than they likely expected they would – Coples at No. 16 overall to the New York Jets, and Brown in the second round, at the 52nd overall pick, to the Tennessee Titans. If you followed the draft at all, you know that NFL personnel types shared similar concerns about Coples and Brown, both. In fact, you could have learned that simply by reading the NFL’s official website.

CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina interim football coach Everett Withers declined to say this morning whether Tar Heels defensive lineman Quinton Coples would be punished by the team for a sign-out policy mistake that eventually led to the All-ACC player being interviewed by the NCAA.

Watch video of Withers' comments about Coples.

“The sign-out sheet policy is an internal policy that we have, so anything that happens will be an internal issue in how we handle it,’’ Withers said today. “As you guys all know, Quinton was cleared by the NCAA, so that issue goes away. No, what we do is handle anything internally in the family.”

Coples said he filed a sign-out sheet in May when he left campus – a policy instituted during the spring semester to track football players' whereabouts whenever they leave campus for 24 hours or more. The team instituted the policy after UNC lost Marvin Austin, Robert Quinn and Greg Little for the entire 2010 season after it was determined they had accepted trips and improper, agent-related benefits.

The problem, Coples said Thursday, was that he did not inform the team that he would be attending Austin’s NFL draft party in Washington, D.C.

NCAA investigators returned to Chapel Hill to interview Coples after a Washington magazine posted pictures from the party on its website. Several of the photos depicted Coples alongside Quinn, Austin and former teammate Michael McAdoo, who was ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA for academic misconduct.
 
“I signed out, but it was an adjustment that I had to make that I didn’t make, which was to inform them that I was going to the party outside the place I was actually going,’’ Coples said. “ … I told them where I was going, which I did go to, but when I made that adjustment to go to the party, I just didn’t let anyone know. And that’s when the whole situation came up.”

The NCAA eventually told UNC that Coples did not commit any violations, but given that 14 players were held out of at least one game last season because of the NCAA investigation, it made for a stressful situation.

"I didn't think anything was going to happen,’’ Coples said. “I was just going to celebrate with my former teammates that had just gotten drafted. I felt like some people took things into a different perspective and saw something different and tried to make the situation bigger than what it was. At the end of the day, I was cleared, and I thank God for that and we're moving on.

"That was definitely a learning experience for me."
 

Scratch Quinton Coples from the University of North Carolina's potential headaches with the NCAA.

The NCAA told UNC that Coples, an All-ACC defensive lineman, did not commit  any violations in connection with a draft party for former UNC defensive tackle Marvin Austin in May, according to a school spokesman.

CHAPEL HILL — Quinton Coples made All-ACC as a junior, his first at defensive tackle, and led UNC with 8.5 sacks.

He said Friday he hasn't made a decision about next season, whether to return to UNC or enter the NFL draft early. He said he is focused on the Music City Bowl and Tennessee.