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Report: Auburn served eight months of severe, self-imposed sanctions due to FBI investigation

Murray State v Auburn

AUBURN, ALABAMA - DECEMBER 22: Head coach Bruce Pearl of the Auburn Tigers reacts during the game against the Murray State Racers at Auburn Arena on December 22, 2018 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

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Auburn has already served eight months of severe, self-imposed sanctions as a result of their involvement in the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball.

NBC Sports confirmed a report from AL.com that Auburn did not conduct any recruiting whatsoever from September of 2017 through April of 2018. They did not call anyone. They did not evaluate any players. There were no visits, official or unofficial during those eight months, and the self-imposed sanctions were not made public until this week.

“Auburn took a proactive approach by self-imposing recruiting restrictions that limited unofficial visits, official visits, contacts, evaluations and phone calls,” the school released in a statement to NBC Sports.

Auburn also held Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley, the two players that were ensnared when former assistant coach Chuck Person was arrested, out for the 2017-18 season; Purifoy also missed the first nine games of the 2018-19 season. Person was caught by the FBI agreeing to accept bribes in exchange for asserting influence on what financial advisors those athletes would sign with. He also funneled some of that money to the players and their families. He plead guilty to his crimes earlier this summer.

The Tigers are not yet out of the woods. There is no official word yet on whether or not they have received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, and most expect that the program - and Pearl, himself - will face some kind of punishment.

“I am anticipating that we are not finished completely,” Pearl told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. “I am anticipating because we have gotten through a lot of things with the NCAA.

“I do feel like the worst is behind us.”