Comer and Two Others Ineligible for Northridge

Three Cal State Northridge football players held out of recent games because of eligibility questions will not return to the team, Paul Bubb, the school’s athletic director, said Tuesday.

Wide receiver Brian Comer, running back Deriek Charles and defensive end Tyrone Gunn have exhausted their eligibility under NCAA rules.

“It was something that was overlooked [by Northridge] in the initial review [of paperwork],” Bubb said.

Each of the players attended two other Division I schools before transferring to Northridge. Players can legally switch schools more than once but are eligible for athletic participation only for four years over a five-year period.

Comer’s ineligibility was the most serious blow to the Matadors, who are struggling to stay in the Big Sky Conference playoff race. The Matadors are 3-4 overall, 1-2 in conference play.

Comer averaged a Big Sky-leading eight receptions and had a team-high 476 yards receiving with six touchdowns when his eligibility came into question after a game at Portland State on Oct. 4.

“The conference requires us to submit a final eligibility review,” Bubb said. “We discovered the problem and reported [to the NCAA]. . . . We will not be able to get his eligibility restored.”

Bubb doesn’t expect sanctions against the school because the violation is considered a secondary infraction.

After graduating from Chatsworth High, Comer attended San Diego State in the spring of 1993 before transferring to Valley College in the fall and to Cal in 1995. He was a redshirt in his first season at Cal and played sparingly last year.

“I still haven’t gotten over it by any means,” said Comer, who is continuing to do graduate work at Northridge.

“I could go out [to practices] and watch but it’s kind of difficult.”

Charles, The Times’ Valley region back of the year in 1992 after rushing for 1,133 yards and 15 touchdowns at Hart High, attended Washington State, Valley and Nevada Las Vegas before transferring to Northridge.

Gunn arrived this fall at Northridge after attending Fresno State, L.A. Southwest and Arizona.

Why it took so long for Northridge to put up red flags on the three players is a question Bubb said is not easily answered.

He said the school is short-handed in the eligibility and compliance department, with primarily Judith Brame and Tom Shannon handling the load on top of their other responsibilities.

Brame is Northridge’s senior associate athletic director and Shannon is the faculty athletic representative.

“We are trying to shore up that staff,” Bubb said. “We are restructuring and we are going to add someone to deal specifically with compliance and someone to deal with the initial and continuing eligibility aspects.”

This time, though, it’s too late for three players. And one, Comer, is sorely missed.

“It’s a big void for us,” first-year Coach Jim Fenwick said. “I’ll chalk it up to experience. You just got to keep learning from things like that. . . . I’ll do more of a background check to ease my mind and prevent this from happening again.”