Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter has been suspended the first two games of this season by the NCAA for accepting a $427.48 flight from an agent during the NFL pre-draft process, the school said Wednesday.

Carter withdrew from the draft prior to the deadline, due to toe surgery, and Tennessee said he repaid the money and “disengaged from the agent.”

Having an agent is no longer against NCAA rules, and thus these kind of suspensions have become rare.

There was no immediate comment from the NCAA, while Tennessee issued a full-force protest on the ruling.

“Arion made the right decision for his future health and well-being,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said in a statement. “Our team stands behind AC and his family, and we can’t wait to be on the field with him during training camp next week.”

Tennessee opens against Furman, an FCS team, but its second game is at Georgia Tech. Not having Carter would be a big loss, especially as the Volunteers transition to a new defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles.

Carter, a senior, is a two-year starter for the Volunteers. He was named to the All-SEC third team in the preseason media vote last week.

Carter declared for the draft in mid-December, then reported to pre-draft training on Jan. 5, per a report Tennessee filed with the NCAA, and “immediately after the workouts began, he experienced pain and swelling.” After trying various treatment methods and getting an MRI, Carter decided to withdraw from the draft and undergo surgery.

The turf toe injury caused Carter to miss three games last year, and limited him in many others. He was playing most of the season at about 65-70 percent, he told media last week.

“Me coming back off my injury and ultimately choosing to come back to the University of Tennessee was a pivotal point in my life, I feel like,” Carter said. “I feel like I made the greatest decision I possibly could have made, wholeheartedly.”

The men’s mile final has long been slated as one of the defining moments of these Commonwealth Games. Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman just had to complete the formalites.

Saturday night will the big-ticket event of these 11 days in Glasgow. Wednesday morning was the pre-show. Both in the blue of Scotland. Two big men who have raced since they were wee boys in Edinburgh.

A bigger crowd than both expected turned up at Scotstoun in the west end of the city on a bright morning to watch the heats, which also included another world-class Scot in Neil Gourley.

Injury wrecked Gourley’s chances of qualifying for the final in his home town, but double Olympic medallist Kerr, who has just set an astonishing new world record over this distance, and fellow former world champion Wightman did their bit in fine style.

Kerr cruised to victory in the first heat, surging and dropping for the first half of the race before pulling himself away from any danger to cross first. And Wightman eased to second spot in the following heat to set up Saturday’s showdown.

One was showier than the other – Kerr beseeched the crowd to lift the volume at a couple of points in the final 200m – but both looked in fine fettle for what’s to come.

“I had some time to pull in the crowd and work off their energy,” Kerr told BBC Sport Scotland.

“How many times in my career am I going to be running to the line in front of a world-class pack feeling as good as I am in front of a home crowd?

“People have spent their hard-earned money to come along here on a Wednesday morning and brought their kids along, so I just want to give them that bit of interaction and show that we’re not robots.

“Many times I’ve come here and been third or fourth best to guys who really taught me how to run.

“I grew up dreaming of these championship and there’s a nostalgia of my parents driving me down here at 12 years old and me getting well beaten and then driving home eating a sandwich.”

Like Kerr, Wightman recalls his many races here from his youth and was overwhelmed by how much support there was for him, Kerr and Gourley.

“It was class,” he said. “Wednesday morning felt like it had the potential to be one of the quieter sessions but it was electric.

“I’ve thought for a long time about what it would be like to win in front of a home crowd. Now I just have to go and do it.”