NCAA investigators are looking into possible rules violations related to academic fraud in the athletics department of the University of Tennessee, where campus concerns have been raised about improper tutoring of football players and other athletes.

Ronald C. Leadbetter, associate general counsel for Tennessee, confirmed Thursday that he has been in contact with "several different individuals" on the NCAA enforcement staff about the matter but declined to provide details about the probe.

Timeline: Tennessee

The NCAA is following up on an internal report by Tennessee contending that no rules by tutors or athletes were broken and that the school properly investigated possible NCAA violations when they arose. The school's faculty senate is also investigating the tutoring program, as well as the accommodations given to athletes with learning disabilities, and the grade changes given to athletes. Click here for a timeline of relevant events and allegations, with links to some of the key memos acquired by ESPN.com.

"I'm not going to comment on when, where or what we discussed," he said. "I'm not saying anything until the (the NCAA's) final report comes out."

In an Oct. 28 report that was forwarded to the NCAA, Leadbetter wrote that he believed no rules were broken by athletes or staff members, who in a series of memos dating back to 1995 had been made aware of tutors allegedly doing too much work for players. Those memos first came to public light in a Sept. 26 report by ESPN.com.

Leadbetter was assigned to conduct the internal review by Tennessee president J. Wade Gilley, who opted not to hire an outside law firm to investigate as other schools have done when faced with potential major NCAA infractions.

An NCAA spokeswoman declined comment on the Tennessee case. The organization as a rule does not confirm or deny whether it is investigating a school, so the extent of the NCAA's interest in the Tennessee case was not immediately clear.

According to the NCAA's web site, its enforcement staff may initiate an investigation of a program "only when it has reasonable cause to believe that the institution may have violated NCAA rules." The NCAA may also undertake a review if false or misleading information may have been reported to the school or NCAA enforcement staff.

A full investigation is typically accompanied by a letter of preliminary inquiry to the university chief executive officer. Gilley was unavailable for comment. Leadbetter and Tennessee athletics director Doug Dickey said they have not seen any such letter.

As part of their probe, NCAA investigators have begun independently contacting witnesses for in-person interviews, according to an ESPN.com source. Leadbetter said he is not surprised by the move, that he expected them to check out the credibility of his report.

"That's what they're supposed to do," he said.

In his two-page report, Leadbetter wrote that he developed no evidence that any papers were written for players. He acknowledged that "a number of current and former UT English Department officials and faculty" contended that players were getting improper help from tutors, but that in no case did he believe NCAA rules were broken.

Leadbetter, in his report, briefly considered the issue of excessive collaboration by tutors on players' work. He found one instance in which a tutor typed an English paper from an athlete's "oral dictation," but argued that it did not constitute a violation because the player had an unnamed "special need" -- a term often used to describe athletes with learning disabilities.

Leadbetter also had chastised athletics department officials for not making Tennessee's NCAA rules compliance officer aware of the series of memos last fall so he could investigate them. He wrote that a "timely report" would have avoided the difficulty of trying to document events so long after they occurred. But again, he said the breakdown should not constitute an NCAA violation.

The NCAA has not yet interviewed Linda Bensel-Meyers, who as head of composition for the English Department has been in charge of monitoring part of the athletics department tutoring operation since 1991. She has said she has evidence of a player who got so much tutor help on a paper that it constitutes plagiarism, but that Leadbetter refused to look at the information during his review.

Leadbetter said the school is cooperating fully with NCAA investigators.