More APR Sanctions For Jackson State, NCAA Eliminates 2013 Spring Practice

The NCAA has smacked the Jackson State football program with scholarship cuts, practice time reductions and postseason bans over the last few years — a result of the team’s poor academic scores.

Now, the governing body for college athletics has dealt the team, maybe, its most severe blow.

Jackson State is barred from holding spring practice next year, unless the NCAA accepts the school’s waiver request, according to documents The Clarion-Ledger obtained earlier today through a public records request.

The NCAA has also banned Jackson State from the postseason — the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game — for the second straight season. That was expected news; the spring practice ban was not....

The university is also requesting several other penalties to be waived, including fall practice time reductions, offseason practice time reductions and scholarship cuts.

JSU filed a similar waiver request last year. The NCAA denied all requests except for one — holding off NCAA expulsion. It’s unclear if any Division I football program has been banned from spring practice because of APR.

The team finds itself here after years of its players struggling academically. Today’s documents included new academic figures. For instance, JSU graduated just two football players in 2008-09, documents show. Five graduated the next year and nine last year.