The University of Illinois “inadvertently” violated a...

The University of Illinois “inadvertently” violated a new NCAA recruiting rule only weeks before it faces a hearing by an infractions committee on more serious allegations, a published report says.

Illinois assistant coach Dick Nagy told the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette he didn’t know he was violating an NCAA rule when he had in-depth discussions with two prospective recruits at July’s Prairie State Games on the Champaign campus.

“The rule was changed last year and we weren’t aware of it,” Nagy told the newspaper. “The way the rule is written now, you can’t talk to a recruit on the site, the day of the competition.”