If there was ever a case of a player having a basis to sue the NCAA I think Geor'Quarius Spivey has one. To deny a graduate transfer the opportunity to play is a load of crap.
Can a player sue the NCAA?
- Thread starter peewee.sixpack
- Start date
Considering there was no bad intent here on Spivey's part and TCU wasn't injured by the transfer, the NCAA should do the right thing and let Spivey play.
By letter of the rule though, he's ineligible to transfer because he started the spring semester at TCU.
The rule is black and white, but the circumstances are gray. The NCAA should do the right thing here.
Is this legit? He was listed on the depth chart. Surely they wouldn't wait until 2 days before the game to tell someone that they aren't eligible
Yep, CL just published an article. There is no doubt we are 17ed. We never come out on the good end of these situations.
We won’t, but it would be fun to see us tell the NCAA to 17 off, play Spivey anyway, and dare the NCAA to do anything about it.
He was told to enroll in classes just in case but never actually attended. All thanks to the NC game. Which of course he wanted to play in. Who wouldn't but he was assured all was fine
I would love to see fans file a class action lawsuit against the SEC and NCAA demanding that their ticket cost and expenses be refunded for games involving Alabama. There is plenty of film to prove that they are not actually games, but rather just a show with a predetermined outcome.
Should sue tcu at the least. Claim negligent misrepresentation.
The NCAA is cracking down on transfers across the board, especially multi-time transfers (which Spivey is). FSU had it happen with Darrell Jackson. Colorado is seeing it with Tyler Brown. UNC is seeing it with Tez Walker. Arizona State is seeing it with Jake Smith.
Now, I'm not sure if all of those guys were graduate transfers like Spivey, but the one constant that seems to be in all of their stories is that they were either led to believe or outright told that they would be eligible immediately at their new school (and likely would have been if they had transferred in previous years). The rule change happened in January, but there's been no indication of leniency or 'grandfathering in' players that were in the process of a transfer before the rule change.
I agree that transfers need to be regulated a little more, but they really should have done a better job with this transition.
Now, I'm not sure if all of those guys were graduate transfers like Spivey, but the one constant that seems to be in all of their stories is that they were either led to believe or outright told that they would be eligible immediately at their new school (and likely would have been if they had transferred in previous years). The rule change happened in January, but there's been no indication of leniency or 'grandfathering in' players that were in the process of a transfer before the rule change.
I agree that transfers need to be regulated a little more, but they really should have done a better job with this transition.
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What is the worst thing that can happen if we just say GFY and play Spivey? They vacate all of our wins? We're not winning the West or making the CFP, so who cares if we go 7-5 on the field and the NCAA says our official record is 0-5?
He’s a grad transfer so multiple transfers does not apply if I read the rules. All deals with registering for classes at TCU for bowl game.
That really stinks. This is one of those times where the letter of the law and the spirit of the law don’t mesh. And of course the NCAA won’t get this right.
All I can say for Spivey is, go get your graduate degree on State’s dime, and enjoy being 23 years old in a college town, because it’ll never happen again. This wasn’t what the rule was trying to prevent though.
All I can say for Spivey is, go get your graduate degree on State’s dime, and enjoy being 23 years old in a college town, because it’ll never happen again. This wasn’t what the rule was trying to prevent though.
It depends on what our coaching staff does. If they are gomers and try to force a TE and some run-heavy game, we will need him (we will need TEs period, surely you get this). If we play off what we did last year (the smart play), we won’t need him as much.
I hope our coaches do the latter. That’s what I meant.
We should absolutely do this. Never a better time.
The NCAA knows they are losing relevance/power. They are trying to stay relevant with decisions like this. I say we counter by showing just how little power they have: Play Spivey. ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ.
Ncaa is a sham organization. They never rule the same way on anything. They also apply zero common sense
If everyone knows this, it's time to start ignoring them when they make decisions like this.
Exactly. They have no teeth to do anything. Everything is controlled by the conferences and the media tv contracts. The sooner schools realize and give them the finger the better
Agreed. Less than 300 career receiving yards in 4 years. Just 11 catches in 15 games last season against mostly subpar competition.
I echo Arnett’s comments in that I hate it for Spivey and his family that this is happening. But, this is pretty much a non-issue overall for the team. He’d be a decent depth guy, but nothing more.
Hate it for the kid. It's absolutely ridiculous that he is essentially being penalized because he played on a great team whose season ended in early January rather than a month earlier.
That said, if you think we should risk playing him to stick it to the NCAA, place the glass down on the table and get some sleep.
That said, if you think we should risk playing him to stick it to the NCAA, place the glass down on the table and get some sleep.
If the rule is black and white did we just sit back and hope for the best? That's a bad strategy if so. Should have pressed them to opine months ago then worked an appeal.
Is it possible that we didn't know he had already enrolled in classes for the spring semester? That would be my question.
Its certainly ridiculous, but he’s not being penalized because he played on a great team. He did not have to be registered for spring classes to play in the NC game. He got bad info from the TCU advisors. That’s what sucks and it should be those advisors reaping the consequences.
NCAA has the authority to still grant eligibility of course, so we’ll see in time if they do so. I wouldn’t hold my breath of course. It would probably take someone high up from TCU to go to bat for him in order to get it reversed.
Players can make jumps in right system at right age. This could have been his chance to show out and make some money.
We can at least honor his scholarship. Outside of that, not a lot we can or should do, IMO. It sucks.
At the right age? Sure, but that age is way younger than Spivey is. You don’t see 22-23 year olds going from marginal to great at the drop of a hat. He is what he is athletically at this point.
May be a great blocker, I don’t know, but he’s not going to blossom into some dark horse NFL prospect. If we were counting on him for any sort of major contribution, our offense is in big trouble.
If he was dual enrolled for a bit before eventually withdrawing from TCU and was still at MSU in spring classes and spring practice, then yes that’s possible. If he was still at TCU in the spring or was nowhere in the spring, then that doesn’t seem likely that our people didn’t ask more questions.
Either way, it seems like bad communication all the way around. The coaches have to know the eligibility of every player before camp even starts. That means confirming grades of players in May-mester and summer classes, and checking that all transfers have cleared all NCAA eligibility requirements. If he wasn’t yet eligible and our coaching staff was giving him anything above scout team reps in fall camp, that’s pretty inexcusable, unless Bracky 17ed it all up and told them it was gonna be all good or was already good (which wouldn’t surprise anyone). Just the fact that there was no ruling until yesterday seems to indicate our compliance department wasn’t practicing due diligence in getting a timely decision on the matter, at minimum.
Like you said, a black and white NCAA rule was broken, which in and of itself means there was always substantial eligibility risk, and everyone from the coaches to the football academic staff to the compliance department to the NCAA should have all been in frequent and open communication on the matter. While doing so, all should have acted accordingly to make sure our prep for the season wasn’t going to be affected. I’m not sure that happened.