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Lane Kiffin believes B1G, Pac-12 players shouldn’t face penalty for transferring
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Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin believes that players from the B1G and Pac-12 should be able to transfer without the penalty of having to sit out as a result of those leagues cancelling football this fall. He told Sports Illustrated those individuals should have the opportunity to play.
“I don’t understand it at all,” Kiffin told SI. “If a kid wants to play football and he’s not allowed to play football at his school and his conference, why can’t he go somewhere else and play? How much sense does that make?”
Kiffin’s comments echo ones made by former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. He also believes players within those conferences should be permitted to transfer without penalty.
However, Meyer acknowledged some of the complexities with that so late in the year.
“I think the problem is — and I asked that question to (Ohio State head coach) Ryan Day the other day, he says, ‘They’re already in training camp. So they have to learn the system. You have to fall inside the 85 (scholarship limit) for the team that’s getting (the transfer),’” Meyer said on 850 AM radio channel WRUF in Gainesville, Florida. “So I’m surprised you haven’t heard about a couple. But yeah, certainly, they should be able to.”
Right now, there are six conference still moving forward with a fall football schedule: AAC, ACC, Big 12, C-USA, SEC and Sun Belt. Four conferences have already postponed: B1G, MAC, Mountain West and Pac-12.
Those issues may certainly deter individuals from transferring. Plus, there’s still the chance that the other leagues could opt out at anytime, meaning the individual still wouldn’t be able to play.
Still, Kiffin thinks they should have the option,
“The issue is they’re not giving guys immediate eligibility,” Kiffin said. “At first we thought, if they got shut down, the NCAA would say ‘If your conference and school isn’t going to let you play you can transfer and be eligible somewhere else.’ They’ve come out and said that’s not the case. You’re not going to win a waiver.
“I think you would have seen a lot if that would have happened. You would have seen free agency.”
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB