Ask any serious sportsperson and they will tell you that it takes practice, practice, practice to get to the top of your game, whatever it is. The NCAA, the ruling body of American collegiate sports, has a number of strict rules in place designed to ensure that students actually get an education and not spend every waking moment practicing their sporting discipline.

Now several Michigan State football players are claiming that the program that they belonged to regularly violates those rules, and that players are forced into extra practice time that exceeds that allowed by NCAA rules.

Several players originally spoke with the Detroit Free Press, requesting their identities not be revealed as they feared repercussions from both university staff and football fans. Others have spoken with ESPN under the same conditions.

One player told ESPN that every Sunday during the football season players were required to be at the practice center working out from 10 am to 10pm, with an hour for lunch. That 11 hour day is far in excess of the 4 hour limit for daily training that the NCAA allows, and is over half the 20 hours total practice time a week that the governing board sanctions.

The same player also said that during the off season the number of required week day workouts totaled 13 hours when the limit should be 8.

The players speaking out were all apparently regular features in the University of Michigan’s 2008 and 2009 teams.  Various news outlets have contacted a number of past and current members of the Michigan football program and while none of the players have been willing to put their names on the record, none have defended the coaching staff against the allegations either.

All the players who spoke with press sources admit that they have signed official forms stating that NCAA regulations are followed and they never took their concerns to the college’s compliance staff. According to the players they feared they would get into trouble if they did not sign the waivers.

The head coach of the program, Rich Rodriguez, was hired in 2007. In his first season in charge the team achieved a poor 3-9 record. But in a statement he denied that his players were being overworked in any way. “We know the practice and offseason rules, and we stay within the guidelines. We follow the rules and have always been completely committed to being compliant with all NCAA rules,”