NCAA puts Georgia Southern on 2 years of probation

STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) The Georgia Southern athletics department has been put on two years of probation and the football program will lose two scholarships next season after the NCAA ruled that three football players received improper academic assistance.

The NCAA said in its ruling, which was released Thursday, that an assistant compliance director provided a player with coursework on a flash drive that the player later tried to use as his own. Also, the governing body said an assistant director of student-athlete services submitted extra credit work for two football players.

Both staff members involved were given a three-year show cause order by the NCAA.

Georgia Southern recently joined the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2014 and won the Sun Belt Conference in its first year as a member.