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."
 

UNC confirmed this afternoon that Greg Little is the former football player who received 93 parking tickets associated with five different vehicles.

Those vehicles had nine different license plates on them, apparently from the use of dealer tags.

Little has declined to comment since last week when — in the wake of a court ruling — the university released public records revealing that some Tar Heels football players had racked up 395 campus parking tickets totaling $13,125 in fines over a three-and-a-half year span.

North Carolina linebacker Bruce Carter, defensive tackle Marvin Austin and receiver Greg Little were part of an ACC-heavy second round of the NFL draft on Friday night.

Carter was the second UNC player off the board (DE Robert Quinn went in the first to St. Louis) at the 40th overall pick to the Dallas Cowboys. Austin went 12 picks later to another NFC East team, the New York Giants. Little was the 59th overall selection to the Cleveland Browns.

CHAPEL HILL – If former Tar Heels wide receiver Greg Little could tell younger players anything, he said today, it would be this: “It’s gonna be there. Whatever you’re putting yourself into …it’s going to be there. You’re going to have time to do anything you want to do when the season is over, anything you want to do when the time is right. Just wait.”

Little and defensive end Robert Quinn – who were ruled permanently ineligible in October for violations of NCAA agent benefits, preferential treatment and ethical conduct rules – as well as defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who was dismissed from the program at the same time – returned to the UNC practice field for the team’s annual pro timing day.

Little, whose roughly $4,952 of extra benefits included a pair of diamond earrings and trips to the Bahamas, Washington, D.C., and Miami, said he still felt guilty about how his actions affected his team.

Former North Carolina wide receiver Greg Little, who was declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA for taking impermissible benefits, has chosen Octagon Sports as his agency for contract representation.

Octagon director of communications Scott Horner confirmed Little's signing in an e-mail message today.

According to an NCAA news release, Little accepted $4,952 in impermissible benefits. The joint investigation by the NCAA and the school found that he accepted diamond earrings and travel accommodations to the Bahamas, Washington, D.C., and on two trips to Miami, among other benefits.

Former North Carolina receiver Greg Little -- who was ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA on Monday for violation of NCCAA agent benefits, preferential treatment and ethical conduct rules -- released this statement through the school today:

UNC and the NCAA will not reveal who provided benefits to UNC players Greg Little, Robert Quinn and Marvin Austin, even as coaches here and across the country criticize, in broad terms, the influence of agents on college players.

The NCAA blasted Little and Quinn today in ruling them forever ineligible to play college football as a result of taking a combined $10,000 in trips, jewelry and more – and not telling the truth about it.

Separately, UNC said Austin also took benefits, worth at least $10,000, and kicked him out of the program without even submitting his case to the NCAA.

Correction: Little was a walk-on for the basketball team during the 2007-08 season, not '08-09. He played in 10 games.

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina wide receiver Greg Little’s NCAA violations – which resulted in the senior being dubbed permanently ineligible this morning – occurred after his stint as a walk-on for North Carolina’s basketball team during the 2007-08 Final Four season, athletic director Dick Baddour said today.

Little and defensive end Robert Quinn were declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA for violations of agent benefits, preferential treatment and ethical conduct issues. The school will not appeal. Meanwhile, senior defensive end Marvin Austin was kicked off the team for similar issues, and UNC will not ask the NCAA to reinstate him.

Austin took extra benefits in the $10,000 to $13,000 range, Baddour said. According to the facts submitted by the university, the total value of the benefits was approximately $4,952 for Little and $5,642 for Quinn.

Durham attorney Butch Williams is representing ineligible North Carolina football player Greg Little, the lawyer confirmed today.

Williams would not reveal specifically why the senior wide receiver needed an attorney, but said: "We just hope for a quick resolution because all of the kids want to get back on the football field.”

Little talked with NCAA investigators in July as part of its probe into possible improper contacts with sports agents, his father said.

When North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour announced that the NCAA’s investigation into potential improper contact with agents had spawned a second, separate probe into potential academic misconduct, he cautioned -- twice -- not to jump to any conclusions when names started to trickle out.

But with Marvin Austin already suspended for violating team rules, NCAA punishment handed down to Alabama’s Marcell Dareus and this morning’s announcement that 12 players will not play in Saturday’s game against Louisiana State and three more aren’t traveling to Atlanta but may play, let’s jump to a couple conclusions.