[NU Sports] "Persa Strong" Campaign

Sun Dec 4 10:55:01 CST 2011

I agree that each of these situations has their particular spin, but it appears that players may be positioning themselves to take advantage of this "graduate with eligibility" rule.  In summary, the NCAA has said that if you graduate and still have a year of elibility left AND you can get the release from your current program, you can enroll in grad school at another Div I program and play immediately.  So if you are interested in an NFL career, it is to your advantage to take a red shirt year and work hard to graduate in four years.  If for some reason you aren't getting the visibility in your "undergrad" program that you feel you need, this gives you the opportunity  to play your "grad school" year for somebody else.  

What has changed lately is that major football programs have had success with these "one-year wonders".  

Russell Wilson, for example, appears to be a great person and is clearly a talented player, but do you honestly think that he would be in the Heisman running if he had finished his career at NC State?  Also the reason he is in the Heisman conversation is that Wisconsin would likely NOT be headed to the Rose Bowl if the RS freshman Joe Brennan (backup on the depth chart) or Jon Budmayr (injured Soph) were the starting QB.

Now we have ND's QB Crist following this same path.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-1204-notre-dame-crist--20111204,0,1992457.story

You gotta figure that big time programs know which players potentially fall into this category and are tracking their progress as closely as they track the progress of prized prospective high school recruits.  

My concern is that if it does become widespread, the football programs who contend regularly for national championships may start to use the rest of Div I in the same way as some use JC programs today - minor leagues to develop talent.  

Jeff

________________________________

From: jonathanwhodges at gmail.com on behalf of Jonathan Hodges
Sent: Fri 12/2/2011 12:40 PM
To: Beamsley, Jeff
Cc: Mike Nolan; hakirsch at aol.com; nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] "Persa Strong" Campaign

Note that Russell Wilson's situation was a bit unique: he wanted to play minor league baseball in the spring (he was already drafted), but NC St. head coach Tom O'Brien did not like that and said he would no longer be the starting QB as of this season.  Wilson has been a solid student (he graduated in 4 years) and is also a pretty solid guy off the field from reports I've read.  He was essentially run off by his old school and used the NCAA exemption that allows students with an undergraduate degree and a year of eligibility left to transfer and study in a graduate program not offered by their previous school and play immediately.  With coaches able to break their contracts at any time I think students deserve some ability to move without losing a year on the bench, and I think this is a reasonable allowance towards that goal (especially since it requires the player to graduate).

Now, not that it can't be abused - last year Jeremiah Masoli suited up for Ole Miss after transferring from Oregon under the same exemption, but he had essentially been kicked off of the Oregon football team due to off field incidents.  The NCAA has looked into this situation but had to allow it at the time as it was within the letter of the law.

I doubt this will lead to widespread use of this provision as it essentially requires a player to have redshirted a year and graduate in 4 years while also wanting to transfer, and they must find a graduate program not offered at their current school.  It will be interesting to see if this ever comes into play for NU (which I doubt, especially now that NU can offer mutli-year scholarships and will likely offer a full 4 years to most recruits, thereby reducing chances of someone wanting to transfer).

Jonathan

--
Jonathan Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 12:18 PM, Beamsley, Jeff <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com> wrote:

	Mike,

	Couldn't agree with you more.

	There was a rent-a-player era in baseball in the late 70's where Bill
	Veck cobbled together White Sox teams of option-year players that other
	teams didn't want to resign.

	Seems like we are in a similar time with college ball where a player can
	transfer to play their last eligible season with a high profile team in
	order to enhance their NFL prospects.  How long before we end up with
	whole "dream" teams of one-year players cherry picked to make a run at a
	national championship.

	It just further undermines the whole concept of the student athlete, as
	if it wasn't pretty much a sham for many schools already.

	Jeff

	-----Original Message-----
	From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]

	On Behalf Of Mike Nolan
	Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 12:06 PM
	To: hakirsch at aol.com
	Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com; nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
	Subject: Re: [NU Sports] "Persa Strong" Campaign

	Thanks, Harry.

	As the Hypesman ceremony approaches:  55 minutes of tedium, 30 seconds
	of
	suspense and 4 minutes and 30 seconds of bad speechmaking, I can't help
	but look to major league baseball's MVP awards as what the Heisman
	SHOULD BE,
	honoring the player who MADE THE MOST DIFFERENCE TO HIS TEAM, not the
	one most likely to be a top draft choice.

	Remember when Andre Dawson won the MVP despite the Cubs finishing
	in last place and some writer commented that if it hadn't been for
	Dawson they might have finished the season in AAA Des Moines?

	Last year there was NO QUESTION in my mind that Persa was by far
	the MVP for any FBS division team, the way he won the Iowa game and
	what happened to the team after he went down demonstrated that.

	That's why RG3 should probably not win this year, despite having had
	some of the more memorable games and plays of the season.  But he went
	out with a concussion in last week's game and Baylor hardly broke
	stride.

	It's a good thing I don't have a Heisman ballot, right now I don't know
	who I'd vote for, probably NONE of the top 4-5 candidates on most
	lists deserve it.

	Sadly, I'm afraid I might lean towards giving it to Russell Wilson, even

	though Wisconsin laid an egg in two games and the school can't seem to
	decide
	whether to promote Wilson or 'Moneyball' as their best shot at the
	trophy.

	But then I'd be cringing waiting for the stories to start circulating
	about the reruiting abuses surrounding Wilson's transfer to Wisconsin,
	like the ones around last year's winner.
	--
	Mike Nolan

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