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HaHa Clinton-Dix is shown at an Alabama practice in November 2012. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

At least two NCAA bylaw experts say any potential penalties Alabama safety HaHa Clinton-Dix faces won't likely be far reaching, though he already has been suspended indefinitely.

More details emerged Thursday on why Clinton-Dix was suspended, which Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban announced a day earlier.

John Infante, a former compliance official at Loyola Marymount and Colorado State and author of the Bylaw Blog for AthleticScholarships.net, said the situation bears resemblance to two recent infractions cases, one pertaining to the coach, assistant strength coach Corey Harris, and another pertaining to Clinton-Dix.

"From the coach's perspective, it sounds like a mini John Blake at (North Carolina)," Infante said.

Blake, a former assistant coach at North Carolina, was accused of accepting cash from a sports agent and was given a three-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA.

Clinton-Dix's offense, according to Infante, will likely carry a significantly smaller penalty.

"From Clinton-Dix's perspective, even if the coach is deemed an agent, it is still not that serious of a violation,” Infante said. “Marcell Dareus was in line for a four game suspension before mitigating circumstances and he was found to have received over $2,000 from an agent."

Dareus, a former Alabama star defensive end, was suspended for two games in 2010 after taking multiple trips that involved contact with agents.

Dareus was also forced to pay $1,787.17 of benefits to a charity of his choice. Dareus originally was given a four-game suspension but had the penalty reduced to two games due to what the NCAA deemed to be mitigating circumstances in the case.

Dr. David Ridpath, associate professor of sports administration at Ohio University and NCAA compliance expert, backed up Infante's assertion that the value of the benefit Clinton-Dix received suggests that the penalties from the NCAA will be minor.

"It is certainly a serious issue, and Alabama is acting correctly in how they've addressed it so far," Ridpath said. "I think the fact that he's already paid the money back is probably going to be seen as a mitigating circumstance. I'm just not sure the NCAA has a leg to stand on there in terms of penalizing him for a long period of time."

In terms of how the incident could impact Alabama as a program, Ridpath said that a proactive approach from UA in dealing with the situation could have an affect on the outcome.

"I think if Alabama is proactive about it and reports to the NCAA that they will suspend him for a certain period of time in advance of actually carrying out the suspension, there's a good chance it will put them in a better position than if they simply suspended him and declared what they had done afterwards."

"Depending on exactly what the coach's level of involvement was with an agent and whether he had any arrangements like this with other players, it likely won't impact Alabama as a program. North Carolina took some penalties from the NCAA, including a bowl ban, but John Blake's involvement was much deeper with both the agent and with the program itself than this situation seems to indicate."