Ole Miss Football: Immediate eligibility for Rebels’ transfers is good news
The Ole Miss football players who left the Rebels’ program following the NCAA sanctions will be eligible to play immediately and that’s a good thing.
Ole Miss is in a bit of a rough situation right now. For those uninitiated, the Rebels are facing a litany of sanctions for recruiting violations committed under Hugh Freeze. The 2013 class is at the center of the violations. That class brought Laremy Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell and Robert Nkemdiche, among others, to Oxford. The violations range from basic payments, to cars, jobs for parents, and a number of other banned actions. These violations have been talked about ad nauseam, and if you want more detail, either of these articles are great places to start.
We’ve known about the violations for years. The penalties, however, are fairly new. Despite firing Hugh Freeze, hiring Matt Luke, and self-inflicting a 2017 bowl ban, the NCAA still wasn’t satisfied. On December 1st, 2017, the NCAA passed down a 2018 bowl ban, and scholarship reductions. The latest penalties were expected, but still sent shock waves through the program.
In the aftermath of this scandal, seven Ole Miss players have announced their intention to transfer. Those players are as follows: Shea Patterson (QB, Michigan), Jarrion Street (LB, UAB) Van Jefferson (WR, Florida), Deontay Anderson (DB, Houston), Breon Dixon (DB, Nebraska), Tre Nixon (WR, UCF), and Jack DeFoor (OL, Georgia Tech).
An unprecedented, but necessary decision
Mass transfers are par the course for scandals like this one. Players like to play at schools that can compete. With sanctions like this, chances to compete drop significantly. The question was never if these players could transfer, it was when they would be permitted to play. After mass debate, the question was finally answered. The players are eligible to play, immediately.
The reason that this was in doubt is because there isn’t really precedent for it happening. Seniors have been permitted in the past to transfer without punishment when a school receives sanctions. However, many of these Ole Miss transfers were underclassmen. That meant that the NCAA had to decide without rules to follow already in place, and obviously, they sided with the players. That’s a good thing.
A sign of movement in the right direction
There isn’t a sports organization in the world more limiting than the NCAA, and its conglomerate of collegiate athletics. The veil of “amateurism” is upheld because that’s how it’s always been. Because education is at least loosely attached, the players are expected to stay with their initial school choice, follow team and NCAA rules, participate in school activities, all while not being allowed to earn money for their labor.
The limitations, as I mentioned, extend heavily into the world of transfers. Recent reforms, such as the allowance of graduates to transfer freely are steps in the right direction, but in general, the NCAA is still archaic with transfer rules. Scandals are a gray area for the NCAA. Transfers become crucial for athletes after a scandal, and in the past, the NCAA has not been forgiven to those players impacted.
This is a big problem. Limiting freedom for players that were not responsible for the rule breaking is unfair, and a telling juxtaposition to coaches being able to jump ship freely before a scandal, Pete Carroll style. Players are not the bad guys in scandals, they’re the victims. The victims of negligence from their coaches, their administrators, and their university. If anyone should be punished for illegal conduct, it should be those initiating it, not those being roped into it.
In that regard, this is a big step forward. The NCAA identified that these players were not at fault, and didn’t deserve to suffer for what their coaches did. The NCAA recognized the necessity for transfers in a time of sanction at a school, and correctly allowed for players to leave, just like their coaches can.
Implications for the future abound
The argument against free transfer for players impacted by scandals relies on the potential of a free agency style market for players, or that amateurism is being destroyed. My response to both complaints is that those things are good. Players having rights is good. Players having the right to choose their school is good.
Amateurism is a silly and meaningless guise used to avoid paying athletes. The fact that it hasn’t been abolished yet is both a grotesque adherence to a system that doesn’t work, and a show of how powerful the college football leading class is.
Next: Way-too-early 2019 NFL Mock Draft
College football, amateurism, and the many rules of both are extremely convoluted, and damaging to the athletes that make the sport go. Allowing free transfer after a scandal is a good thing. Allowing free transfer in any instance would be a good thing. We’re obviously not there yet. To avoid getting to that point, there’s just one fix: pay the players. It’s time.