Length of ban is not specific

OSU and the NCAA discussed the range of Maurice Clarett's ban.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State and the NCAA have discussed "ranges" and not a particular number of games that tailback Maurice Clarett will be suspended, athletic director Andy Geiger said Wednesday.
"We have discussed ranges," Geiger said. "That's all that we have done."
Clarett is practicing with the Buckeyes even though he's serving a "multiple-game" suspension for his role in an exaggerated car theft report.
Geiger said Ohio State likely would not submit a response before the end of the week to several pages of allegations regarding nonacademic eligibility questions the NCAA sent to the university last week. During a news conference last Friday, Geiger said the response could be returned to the NCAA by Monday or Tuesday of this week.
Ohio State spokesman Steve Snapp said of the response being developed by athletic department staff, "All I can say is we're working on it."
Clarett is hopeful
Clarett is bearing up well under the scrutiny of the past few weeks and hopes the matter might conclude soon, said his attorney Scott Schiff.
"Maurice hasn't spoken much throughout this process," Schiff said. "If and when people get to know Maurice Clarett, he is an upstanding young man who is misunderstood right now and has no goal but to play college football for Ohio State University."
Geiger said the process might be expedited somewhat because Ohio State agreed with "most" of the allegations against Clarett.
"I think a couple were not as telling or as significant as others," he said. "There were shades of gray. Generally, there's not a wide amount of disagreement. There's not contention between us and the NCAA."
He added, "I don't think this is going to be a hugely long process. It's just a matter of working our way through. I don't want to send a report to the NCAA and then have to send in a bunch of supplemental reports. I want to get it all done if I can."
Is part of drills
Clarett is working out with the team as a scout-team tailback, wearing the uniform number and mimicking the opposing team's top tailback while running plays against Ohio State's first-team defense.
Geiger said his staff members working on the response to the NCAA still have some "fact-finding" to do.
Ohio State's response will be sent to the NCAA, with suggested penalties to Clarett included.
A committee of NCAA officials who deal with student-athlete eligibility will then respond back to the university with the penalties that it recommends.
"They'll either agree with us or not," Geiger said. "Then we have a choice to appeal that to the reinstatement committee."
The committee
The reinstatement committee is composed of faculty representatives, athletic directors and senior women administrators from other universities.
In the meantime, Clarett will continue to practice. The process has already rolled past the point where he has any further input.
"It's pretty much out of his hands right now," Geiger said.