Tomari Fox got screwed, there is no two ways about it.

We all know the NCAA works in strange ways. Most of the college sports world believes one of those strange ways was Carolina getting off with no penalty for its involvement in the highly publicized scandal, if you consider $30 million in legal fees and seven years of bad pub no penalty.

But ruling defensive lineman Tomari Fox ineligible for a so-called banned substance that he didn’t know he was taking – and there is no reason to disbelieve him – well, that’s a little bit over the top or under the table by some NCAA dweeb who might have thought they owed UNC something.

According to Fox, who had 10 tackles and 15 assists as a junior and was expected to play a much larger role this season like his older brother Tomon, he had downed a protein drink with an ingredient that was not on the NCAA’s approved list. So, Fox missed the bowl game last season and, now that his appeal is denied, will miss the entire 2022 regular season.

Oh, yes, he can still practice with the team every day and play in the bowl game, if the Tar Heels should get back to a fourth straight under Mack Brown. That’s like being left the rotten pickle at the bottom of the jar.

I can’t name any off-hand, but I guarantee you that the judgment is major league inconsistent with what the NCAA has done in taking away and granting eligibility. It really depends who is sitting on the panel, which may no longer consist of committee members from various NCAA schools.

Apparently, there is now an independent jury of sorts that hands out penalties, and surely these people want to set a new standard for what a farce the NCAA has become in enforcement. That certainly doesn’t help Tomari Fox, who just lost his last year of eligibility.

That’s a bad break for the Tar Heels, who have to fill holes on a defense that was so bad last season that coordinator Jay Bateman went from a fixture to fired failure. And with Brown learning that the transfer portal is becoming a cesspool of illegal NIL inducements, where is the head coach going to find experienced players to fill those holes.

Brown believes his fourth Tar Heel team of his second stint here will be tougher down the stretch of games and more disciplined, allowing them to get ahead early and not collapse late like in 2021. Only they will have to do it without one fox in the hole.

 

Photo via Nell Redmond/USA TODAY Sports.

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