College football: North Carolina State suspends seven players

North Carolina State suspended seven players — including its leading tackler and a second defensive starter — for this week’s game against Louisville for their involvement in a BB gun incident, Coach Dave Doeren said.

Doeren said the players were playing a game with the BB guns at an off-campus residence last week and “made a mistake in not recognizing that this activity could have resulted in someone being injured.”

The coach provided no further details. Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Suhgrue did not return an email.

Among the suspended players are linebacker Jerod Fernandez and safety Josh Jones — both of whom started the 30-14 home loss to Boston College on Saturday.

Fernandez leads the team and is tied for second in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 58 tackles, and also has a team-best two interceptions. Jones has 38 stops, one sack and an interception.

The other suspended players were receivers Johnathan Alston and Jumichael Ramos, defensive linemen Justin Jones and Pharoah McKever and cornerback Mike Stevens.

Coach fired

Buffalo fired football Coach Jeff Quinn two days after the Bulls lost to Eastern Michigan. Quinn, 52, was in his fifth season with the Bulls, who are 3-4 with two victories against lower-division teams. He was 20-36 overall.