HJS {l Wrote}:USC had jumped through a hundred hoops to publicly say JT Daniels was going to have every opportunity to regain the starting position. As with everything with the NCAA, when it comes to the factories, there are no rules. Seems like the NCAA believes that, so long as you are in the realm of schools who do not pretend to be anything more than minor league football, transfer at will. Once you are dealing with the non-BabyRapists, NCAA rules apply. Does not bode well for Jurk (and to a lesser extent, Gatewood). The interesting thing will be if there is no season. Will the NCAA make these denials sit out 2021?
Daniels to Georgia (from USC)
Martell to MIami (from tOSU)
Fields to tOSU (from Georgia)
Eason to Washington (from Georgia)
Hoffman to VaTech (from Coastal Carolina)
Ford to Illinois (from Georgia)
Jurkovec to BC (from ND)
Gatewood to Kentucky (from Auburn)
First, huge credit to BCDee97 for creating an apparently organic effort to promote Jurkovec's eligibility.
Most recent bit I've seen indicates that Gatewood's waiver request is also pending a decision. Maybe more importantly, it cites reporters' tweets indicating that NCAA President Mark Emmert supports the blanket one-time transfer opportunity, and that he thinks it was Covid-19 that forestalled passage this year.
Very curious as to what Dick Rosenthal and others who seem to have inside info think. Based on my years of experience navigating through passive-aggressive bureaucracies/businesses, and knowing how BC doesn't like being involved in confrontations that can generate media attention, I'm guessing BC pulled punches in the appeal so that Emmert & others could work on ND. I think further that ND administration would be inclined to give the waiver so as to avoid info on ND"s treatment of Jurkovec from getting out.
Kelly & Rees, however, benefit the most if Jurkovec stays out this year. Reading between the lines, it seems they held fast to their offensive system and clung to more of a system QB in Ian Book, rather than building their offense around the more talented Jurkovec. Why would they do that? Because they overrate their own capabilities as coaches, their contribution as coaches to ND's success, and because they'll get more professional credit if they market "their" system rather than just winning because they have ND talent. I would think that's more the case with Rees than Kelly BTW, but whatever. Regardless, I think those incentives led them to do Jurkovec dirty behind the scenes.
As bad as it looks to mistreat Jurkovec, I could envision Kelly & Rees seeing it as worse if Jurkovec plays well, leading to powerful ND alumni channeling Bob Lobel's "why can't we get players like that?". Emmert probably wants to end this without bad PR and conflict, and BC's upper admin is always on-board with avoiding those things. So I could imagine Emmert thinking season might get canceled without having to make a decision, while Kelly & Rees bet BC will fold. But Dee's #FreeJurk built an organic structure such that Hafley could give a nod once someone mentioned it publicly (the Clemson radio host, "Depthula" or "Road rage" or whatever). Hence the player retweets starting Friday and elder Tessitore's "questions" to his ESPN colleagues.
I always thought a flat-out rejection was not that likely given the goods I think Jurkovec's people have, but it's best for him personally if he doesn't have to explain to NFL scouts eventually why he dragged down Kelly & Rees. Credit to BCDee97 & #FreeJurk for making that possible.