SEC penalizes LSU with minor recruiting sanctions

Published Feb. 26, 2015 9:07 p.m. ET

foxsports

BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU says its football program has been penalized by the Southeastern Conference because coaches communicated too frequently with a recruit who had signed a financial aid agreement, but later decided to play elsewhere.

NCAA rules allow coaches more leeway to contact recruits who have submitted financial aid forms, but coaches are deemed retroactively in violation if such recruits decide to enroll at another school.

LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette says the Tigers received a two-year ban on offering financial aid agreements to freshmen enrolling in the spring semester -- called early enrollees. Also, coaches will have the number of days they can evaluate recruits cut by 10 percent in 2015.

Bonnette says LSU informed the SEC of the violations, which were first reported Thursday by The Advocate of Baton Rouge.