The Ole Miss football team was without a major presence on its offensive line, Laremy Tunsil, for its first two games and is expecting that to remain the same for several weeks.
An unnamed source told ESPN.com the NCAA is focusing on a car Tunsil allegedly borrowed from Cannon Motors in Oxford, Miss. to drive while his car was being repaired. The NCAA took notice when Tunsil and his stepfather, Lindsey Miller, got into a physical altercation that may have stemmed from a disagreement about NFL agents contacting the All-SEC offensive lineman.
Ross Bjork and Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss' athletic director and head football coach, respectively, said in a statement last week that they would keep Tunsil on the bench during the NCAA's investigation, The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported.
Tunsil maintains he was simply protecting his mother from Miller, and Freeze has previously stated Tunsil told him that before the news broke. Both parties filed domestic violence charges against one another, but later dropped the case all together.
If the NCAA determines Tunsil received impermissible benefits valued at $700 or more, he could have to miss at least three or four games this season. Other factors could also increase the suspension, but the games Ole Miss kept Tunsil out for could also count toward the suspension.
Either way, the highly touted offensive tackle will miss this weekend's road game against Alabama. Tunsil's case was also included with an ongoing investigation the NCAA has been conducting at Ole Miss for more than three years.
Neither Freeze nor Bjork seem willing to address the issue until it is resolved, as the former deflected a question on the matter after his team's win over Fresno State.
"The matters involving Laremy Tunsil aren't related to anybody on our football staff, Coach Freeze or any of the assistants," Bjork told ESPN.com, declining to comment further. "We want to protect the young man and are doing everything we can to do that, but we also have to and need to and should protect our staff and our program."
