PEORIA, Ill. – A University of Illinois basketball player facing felony charges after an accident that left a teammate injured will be allowed to remain a student, his family said.

Jamar Smith of Peoria pleaded not guilty to felony charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident after the car he was driving crashed into a tree in Champaign in February. Passenger and teammate Brian Carlwell suffered a severe concussion.

Smith’s grandfather and legal guardian, Leroy Smith, told the (Peoria) Journal Star for a story Thursday that a campus committee on student conduct decided last Friday to allow the sophomore to remain in school but on probation.

“It’s a tremendous hurdle,” said Leroy Smith, who was not allowed to attend a hearing that preceded the decision. “Jamar came to me and said, ‘Yes, they let me stay in school and I’m on probation.’ What that probation is, I don’t know.”

Illinois Sports Information Director Kent Brown confirmed that Jamar Smith remains in school and on the basketball team. But Brown declined to elaborate, saying the university doesn’t comment on student disciplinary matters.

Authorities say Smith and Carlwell had been drinking tequila and beer before the crash, and that Smith, too young to drink legally, had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit of .08.

Smith, who allegedly believed Carlwell was dead, left the accident scene and drove the damaged car back to his apartment in the nearby town of Savoy, authorities said.