CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Ebele Okakpu had hoped to work out for NFL scouts at North Carolina next week despite being dismissed from the team last fall.
The school has said no and isn't budging, a sign of how much times have changed in the year since letting the three biggest offenders from an NCAA investigation into the football program return to campus for pro day.
There's a new coach, a new athletic director and an intense desire for the school to distance itself from the past 21 months of turmoil.
"I didn't violate any NCAA rules. I didn't get in trouble with the law," Okakpu said. "I got dismissed by a coach that's not even there, so why won't they let me just finish out?"
Okakpu, a senior linebacker from Roswell, Ga., was dismissed in October by interim coach Everett Withers for conduct detrimental to the team. He had a chance to graduate this spring, but let his grades slip after his dismissal and fell behind.
He then missed a deadline that could've allowed him return to school in January around the time of the coaching transition to Larry Fedora.
North Carolina's pro day is Tuesday.
"Our judgment is determined by our past and certainly we considered Carolina's issues," new athletic director Bubba Cunningham said of the decision. "But Larry's trying to establish a sense of accountability within the team. And this does factor into being accountable and responsible for your own actions."
The decision stands out compared to the decision to let Marvin Austin, Robert Quinn and Greg Little return last season.
An NCAA investigation determined each player received thousands of dollars in improper benefits -- one of several reasons why the NCAA hit the program with a one-year postseason ban, a reduction of 15 scholarships and three years of probation Monday.
The trio's presence back on the school's practice fields last year created a spectacle and an unusually large crowd of reporters.
"The entire situation is very strange to me and it appears to be strange to every NFL person I speak with regarding Ebele," said Lance Courtney, Okakpu's agent. "And several of the people I've spoken with mention the gentlemen from last year. That's just something you would normally think about. And certainly, as I mentioned, Ebele did nothing close to what those young men did."
At the time, former coach Butch Davis and former athletic director Dick Baddour painted the afternoon as a chance to move forward and heal with players who were sorry for what they did. All three players were picked in the first two rounds of last year's NFL draft.
Now Davis is gone, fired by the school just before training camp last season. Baddour stepped aside early so his successor could hire the next football coach.
Cunningham left Tulsa to take over as AD, then hired Fedora from Southern Mississippi. Okakpu said he has met neither Cunningham nor Fedora.
Okakpu started the first four games before suffering an ankle injury and missing two games. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker returned to the starting lineup against Miami on Oct. 15.
That game turned out to be his last at UNC. Okakpu said he was frustrated over playing time as he went in and out of the game, then came to the sideline and slammed his helmet to the ground.
That led to an argument with former assistant coach Allen Mogridge. Withers told him he was dismissed from the team the following day.
Okakpu finished with 14 tackles, three tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.
A person familiar with the situation said Okakpu's dismissal wasn't for one incident, but rather was for a "series of infractions" over his career including missed classes. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school hasn't publicly discussed reasons for Okakpu's dismissal.
In addition, Okakpu was one of four football players riding in a car that wrecked on campus last May, which drew attention because the driver of the car wasn't cited for speeding by an officer who had worked on-field security during game days.
The players involved drew the ire of the coaching staff for not notifying them immediately, which only added to the public scrutiny of the program amid the NCAA investigation.
But Okakpu said his days of "messing around" -- including when he skipped classes earlier in his career -- were done. He said he remained in good academic standing until the dismissal and added he was "sure they wouldn't have put me as a starter if I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do."
He's been training at the Competitive Edge Sports facility in Atlanta in hopes of catching the eye of an NFL team. It would've been easier at UNC's pro day with most teams sending scouts to Chapel Hill, but Okakpu is ready to find another way.
"I'm willing to work as much as I need to because I know what I want," Okakpu said. "I mean, this is what I want. I feel like no matter what UNC's decision is, I'm still going to give it a shot to try to play in the National Football League."