Three Middle Tennessee football players were caught pawning bowl rings and were temporarily ineligible for the 2018 season before being reinstated.

In May 2017, three players – whose names are redacted in the NCAA case report – pawned either their 2015 Bahamas Bowl ring or their 2016 Hawaii Bowl ring, according to information obtained through an open records request.

MTSU self-reported the violation to the NCAA.

According to the report, the players failed to return to the pawn shop to pay to reacquire their rings, effectively selling them. That is a Secondary/Level III NCAA violation.

A Secondary/Level III violation is "isolated or limited in nature, can be inadvertent in nature, and only provides a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage," according to the NCAA.

A Level III infraction is a minor violation that typically does not carry major punishment.

The Bahamas Bowl ring was worth $259, and the Hawaii Bowl ring was worth $315, according to the NCAA report. It does not say how much each player got per pawned item.

MTSU lost both bowl games. The Blue Raiders lost 45-31 to Western Michigan in the Bahamas Bowl and lost 52-35 to Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl.

The violation was discovered by MTSU in January 2018 by a marketing assistant who was searching eBay for MTSU merchandise. The assistant contacted the compliance office, which began investigating the potential violation.

MTSU sought reinstatement for the players through the NCAA after the players made payments to a charity of their choice. The NCAA reinstated the players, and they did not miss any games during the 2018 season after paying the value of the bowl rings to a charity, according to a source familiar with the case.

The case was decided on March 28, 2018.

Why the players pawned the rings

According to the report, one player said he "believed the ring was his property and since MTSU lost the bowl game, the ring had no meaning. He related his situation of selling the ring to be similar to a coach throwing away a second-place trophy."

The two other players said they intended to pick up their rings after they pawned them, but they did not return to the pawn shop within the 30-day period. The pawn shop claimed their rings, so it could sell them after the allotted time period.

One player said he pawned the ring to help his mother with her bills but intended to pay back the pawn shop when he returned to MTSU in June 2018.

The other player said he needed help paying his May rent, so he pawned his ring with the intention of paying back the pawn shop when he received his summer school check.

What MTSU did to investigate the violation

MTSU's compliance office went to seven of the 19 Murfreesboro area pawn shops to find out who bought the rings, according to the report.

After going to the seven pawn shops, it was determined that none of the shops had the rings in their stores from current or former athletes. Six of the seven pawn shop owners said if the rings were not gold or silver, most pawn shops would not purchase the rings for resale.

During MTSU's investigation, it was determined only one pawn shop was buying the rings with the intent of selling them on eBay.

Reach Luis Torres at ltorres1@dnj.com and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.

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