When the NCAA handed down its so-called death penalty on the Southern Methodist football program earlier this month, it was a starting gun for some recruiters to head for Texas and pick up the remains.

The Mustangs are banned from competition in 1987 and face other limitations through the 1990 season. Players were not expected to sit and wait for 1988.

eports circulated that as many as 100 recruiters from the likes of national champion Penn State and Big Eight powerhouse Oklahoma were on the campus of SMU making offers to Mustang players.

But with the start of spring practice less than a week away, the NIU football program is ready to conduct business with only the hands currently on deck. Head Coach Jerry Pettibone said his staff did not send anyone down to the Dallas-located school.

“A lot of schools did, but we didn’t,” Pettibone said Tuesday. “We have committed all the scholarships we have and we have everyone we need.”

SMU was the first school to receive the death penalty, the NCAA’s ultimate punishment created in June 1985. A one-to two-year suspension is imposed on a program found guilty of violating an NCAA rule twice in a five-year period.

The SMU program had been wrist-slapped seven times for rules transgressions and were serving a three-year probation for recruiting violations. The one-year suspension was imposed after the uncovering of slush-fund gifts to players from an SMU booster.

Pettibone, who was an assistant at SMU under Hayden Fry in 1971, said he supports the NCAA action.

“It didn’t surprise me a bit,” Pettibone said. “That’s the toughest sanction that’s ever been imposed by the NCAA. It’s also justified. They’ve (SMU) been on probation something like four out of the last six years.

“Hopefully, that (the suspension) will send a message to anyone who would think about going against the rules.”

Pettibone will call his troops to order for the five-week spring practice session starting next Tuesday. The squad will practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to accommodate the players’ class schedules.

There will be 20 workouts in all, culminating in the annual intrasquad scrimmage Thursday, April 23 at Huskie Stadium.