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LEXINGTON, Ky. - A former Ohio State teaching assistant who charged that star tailback Maurice Clarett received preferential academic treatment met Wednesday for more than two hours with NCAA officials and a university committee.

"They were concerned about test scores, about cheating in the classroom, things like that," said Norma C. McGill, a teaching assistant in Clarett's African-American and African Studies class last fall.

During the meeting, McGill was shown test scores from the class, which she said had been altered since she left the school.

The meeting took place at a downtown hotel in Lexington, McGill's hometown, where she returned after leaving Ohio State during the week of final exams last fall.

Later Wednesday, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said Clarett probably wouldn't play in the season opener Aug. 30 against Washington because he hadn't been practicing with the team.

Clarett has been held out of all of Ohio State's team functions, including preseason practices, until questions about his eligibility are resolved.

"I would doubt it," Tressel said when asked if Clarett would be in the opening-game lineup. "We've had what, 19 or 20 practices? There will be some guys, along with Maurice, perhaps we may not have" available for the opener.

McGill said she hoped the investigation would "heat up."

MIAMI REDHAWKS: Junior quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has earned mention among the top 25 players in college football in an article by ESPN's Bruce Feldman that ranks the nation's Top 100 players. Roethlisberger is one of two players from a non-Bowl Championship Series program and one of just three quarterbacks to earn mention among the Top 25.

Feldman, whose rankings were based on the potential on-field impact of the players for the 2003 season, said of Roethlisberger: "The prototype can make all the throws, even run a little option and now has a deep threat in Martin Nance." North Carolina State's Philip Rivers (18th) and Missouri's Brad Smith (20) were the only quarterbacks ranked above Roethlisberger. Miami Hurricanes tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. headed the list.

Roethlisberger is entering his third season as the RedHawks' starting quarterback and already has passed for 6,343 yards and 47 touchdowns.

MIAMI HURRICANES: Quarterback Marc Guillon has decided to transfer after slipping to fourth on the depth chart, coach Larry Coker said Wednesday.

Guillon entered fall practice behind Florida transfer Brock Berlin and two-year backup Derrick Crudup, and then recently fell behind freshman Kyle Wright, one of the nation's top recruits.