Michigan Possibly Broke NCAA Rules

It was first reported in an article on Saturday on the Detroit Free Press website by writers Michael Rosenberg and Mark Snyder that since Rich Rodriguez has been at Michigan, he has consistently violated the NCAA's rules regarding off-season and in-season workouts and time allowed to be spent with athletes in training sessions.

ESPN news services have weighed in on the wire story. Many more will soon, I'm sure.

The claims in the Free Press story are that Michigan's off-season workout schedules for players far exceed the time allowed by the NCAA.  The following is from the ESPN article.

Several Michigan football players claim the program regularly violates NCAA rules limiting how much time they can spend on training and practice sessions, according to a published report.

Players from the 2008 and 2009 teams told the Detroit Free Press for a story published on the newspaper's Web site on Saturday that the amount of time they spend on football activities during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeds the limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches.

Rodriguez's official statement was released today by Judy Van Horn, the university's compliance director.

"We know the practice and offseason rules, and we stay within the guidelines. We follow the rules and have always been completely committed to being compliant with all NCAA rules."

We don't have much yet in terms of fall-out from this article. Much more to come of this, no question. But for now, we'd like to just get as much information out there and let you decide for yourself.

Update
ESPN's Adam Rittenberg weighs in.