North Carolina safety reinstated after appeal

The NCAA granted additional eligibility for a North Carolina player who missed most of the 2016 season amid charges of sexual battery and assault on a female student.

Those misdemeanor charges were dismissed and attorney Kerry Sutton said Thursday that the NCAA granted an appeal this week allowing Allen Artis to play the 2018 season. The senior reserve safety must sit two games because he played in two games in 2016 before being indefinitely suspended after his arrest on the charges brought by the student. Artis had said they had consensual sex in February 2016 and denied wrongdoing. Charges were dismissed in June and the school reinstated Artis to the team about a week later.

Elsewhere

Junior quarterback Josh Allen of Wyoming (7-5) is playing in his final college game Friday against Central Michigan (8-4) in the Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise before the likely first-round draft pick takes his talents to the NFL. Allen has endured a disappointing season filled with bumps and bruises. He missed the final two games of the regular season but will play in the bowl game. ... UAB (8-4) had its best year as a Football Bowl Subdivision team, restarting the program after a two-year hiatus. The Blazers are seeking their first bowl win in only their second one when they play Ohio (8-4) Friday in the Bahamas Bowl in Nassau.