South Carolina: Football’s low grad rate an error

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Athletics officials at South Carolina say a clerical error submitted to the NCAA is behind the report of a 39 percent graduation rate for the football team.

The school said Tuesday that 11 football players who had graduated were not accounted for in the forms submitted to the NCAA used to compile the report. South Carolina faculty athletics representative Zach Kelehear said the 11 were part of the 2004 data. Kelehear said the NCAA acknowledged the shortfall and would update the figures within the next two weeks.

Athletic director Eric Hyman said the updated figures would increase the football team’s rate by about 16 to 18 percentage points. He said the football team had made tremendous academic progress under coach Steve Spurrier since 2005.