Tez Walker pens letter to NCAA president over transfer waiver decision

North Carolina receiver Devontez “Tez” Walker has released his complete letter to the NCAA president requesting a review of his transfer waiver decision, the latest salvo in an ongoing saga as Walker seeks a reversal of the NCAA’s decision.

Walker transferred to North Carolina from Kent State this offseason.

The NCAA ruled that because it was technically his second transfer, he must sit out a year in residence before he can play again. However, Walker disputes that it was, in fact, his second transfer due to some extenuating circumstances.

He initially enrolled at NC Central, but the program canceled its football season in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Walker opted to transfer to Kent State, where he could play football.

“My understanding based on the response from your organization is that my appeal has been turned down due to a technicality,” Walker wrote in a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker. “Your team believes my enrollment at NCCU — where I never played football — should count as my original school.”

Walker would go on to outline why the transfer waiver decision counting his transfer from NC Central to Kent State as an official transfer is unfair, in his estimation.

“Governor Baker, this makes no sense,” Walker wrote. “During my time at NCCU, they never played a football game. COVID made them cancel our season. I appeal to your logic as a man and as a leader. Please, review my situation so I can achieve my dream as a student-athlete. Isn’t that what the NCAA is supposed to do? Help student athletes achieve their dreams?”

For now, Walker remains in limbo, simply hoping the NCAA might reverse course after facing significant public scrutiny over transfer waiver decisions like Walker’s. Colorado‘s Tyler Brown and Florida State‘s Darrell Jackson were both denied waivers in slightly different circumstances and both have bemoaned the decision by the NCAA.

North Carolina’s season is set to begin on Saturday night against South Carolina. For now, it will be without Walker.

“I am not going to go into detail on my well-documented mental health challenges,” Walker wrote. “I feel those are private to me and are unfortunately similar to what many college students have dealt with during COVID. I am working through them and learning to better manage myself every day. However, I am asking you to please review the data that I submitted to your organization. None of the feedback from the NCAA indicates that they have given my mental health any consideration.

“Another key issue that I believe your organization has disregarded is that my entire coaching staff at Kent State departed. In any normal circumstance, the NCAA would grant a student-athlete a waiver for this reason alone. Why aren’t you factoring that in?

“Mr. Baker, we’ve never met. Please help me. Thank you.”