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FAMU is traveling to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina, but will be severely handicapped by eligibility issues.
A tweet from Rattler Nation — a blog that closely follows Florida A&M athletics — led to speculation that the SWAC school might pull out of the game against the ACC host due to a large number of ineligible players and others refusing to travel for the game. . HBCU reached out to both FAMU and UNC to find out if there was any truth to Gameday being canceled.
Officials from both Florida A&M and North Carolina have confirmed to us that the game is open. Not long after, head coach Willie Simmons told Allison Posey of ABC 27 in Tallahassee. There were 20 student-athletes who were ineligible due to academic or transfer eligibility. That total included a heavy hit on FAMU’s offensive line.
“All seven of our offensive linemen have been ruled ineligible after we gave our final confirmation to our entire team last night,” Simmons told The Athletic’s Pete Thamel.
Simmons said there was talk of non-play among the players before FAMU President Dr. Larry Robinson intervened and regained a cool head.
“The players were not comfortable playing in those conditions and they were all frustrated with a lot of our internal processes during the verification process, so they decided not to play. After a few more discussions with university officials, including the university president, the players finally decided to play the game. I support these young men 100 percent in whatever they decide and am so proud to advocate for themselves!”
FAMU finally boarded a bus and headed to the airport to travel to Chapel Hill. UNC is paying FAMU a $450,000 guarantee for this game, which has been officially agreed upon in 2020. The game is scheduled to start at 8pm on Saturday.
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