NASHVILLE, Tenn. — North Carolina running back Anthony Elzy's absence from the Music City Bowl is academic related, coach Butch Davis said Wednesday.

Elzy, who emerged in the final three regular season games as UNC's top offensive threat, did not make the trip to Nashville.

"He didn't fulfill his academic requirements," Davis said Wednesday at a press conference at LP Field.

UNC cleared senior running back Shaun Draughn for Saturday's game against Georgia Tech on Monday, according to the depth chart released this morning.

Draughn, the team's leading rusher in 2008, was one of 13 UNC players who missed the LSU loss because of the NCAA investigation into the program.

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.

North Carolina has declared six football players ineligible for Saturday’s season-opening against No. 21 Louisana State for breaking school and/or NCAA rules and is withholding at least six others while the investigation continues, the university announced this morning.

UNC is still waiting to establish the eligibility of three other players.

In all, 15 Tar Heels players did not travel to Atlanta with the team this morning for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game.

Junior Shaun Draughn, North Carolina's leading rusher, will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his left shoulder blade in Saturday's 19-6 win over Duke.

Draughn, who leads the Heels with 567 yards, got injured on the first play of the game, a nine-yard run. He was replaced by Ryan Houston, who ran for a career-high 164 yards on 37 carries. Houston's rushing attempts were the most by a UNC player since 1990.

CHAPEL HILL — Maybe it was the nine-month layoff or maybe North Carolina was mesmerized by the familiarity of The Citadel's uniforms, either way it took one quarter for the Tar Heels to find their bearings in Saturday's season-opener at Kenan Stadium.

The 21st-ranked Tar Heels made up for a sluggish start with an assertive finish in a 40-6 win over the lower Division I Bulldogs.

See an audio slide show of UNC tailback Shaun Draughn who worships in the same Edgecombe County church where his parents are pastors. Photos and ... more

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina tailback Shaun Draughn can't really blame people for pronouncing his name incorrectly for the first two-thirds of the season.

After all, the sophomore was a reserve safety last year — meaning his name wasn't exactly announced on television all that often — and even he knows his name has more of a ring to it if you pronounce it as a rhyme.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — North Carolina quarterback Cameron Sexton was frustrated with himself after tossing two interceptions during Saturday’s 16-13 overtime loss to Virginia, saying “I feel like I let down our fans, the state of North Carolina, I feel like I let down the University, I really feel like I let down my teammates pretty good today.”

But the redshirt junior said he plans to take that frustration out on future defenses.

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina sophomore Greg Little doesn’t see himself as competing for the starting tailback position with Shaun Draughn, who ran for over 100 yards against Connecticut, instead, Little said, “he’s pushing me, and I’m pushing him … to try to make each other better.”

Draughn, a converted safety, came in on UNC’s second offensive series of the game and rushed 19 times for 109 yards and a touchdown. Little, a converted wide receiver, made his fifth consecutive start in the backfield but rushed only three times for six yards.