Report: NCAA football instant transfer proposal gaining support

“Basically, we’re saying kids can go anywhere they want,” Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard said. “For the first time ever in college athletics, the student-athlete is empowered.”

A report by CBS Sports Dennis Dodd reveals that a proposal is picking up steam that would allow for transfer seeking athletes to have immediate playing eligibility.

This would be a huge positive for Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson, who transferred from Ole Miss and is now awaiting from an NCAA panel the decision as to whether he will be eligible to play next season or not.

Our own ClevelandJames this morning was one step ahead, pointing out how coaches such as Dan Enos have left a program early and didn’t have to sit out a year. If coaches don’t have to, why should a player have to wait a season?

Here’s a further clarification of the proposal by Dodd:

“Coaches have long been able to “block” where a transfer goes. Athletes also have to seek release from their scholarships to immediately get aid at another school. Frequently, they have to get “permission” from the school/coach to move on to their desired school. Those practices would end if the aforementioned proposal is adopted.” Dodd said.

The proposal was written by officials from Baylor and Iowa State, and by Dodd’s reporting, it appears it is receiving far more support than skepticism.

Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith is on board, and may be only a matter of time before Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel and head coach Jim Harbaugh voice their input on the matter one way or the other.

According to Dodd, the NCAA wants one or two proposals to be put on the table for legislative action in June. It remains to be seen whether the new proposal, once enacted, would have any changing effect on the 2018 season.

For a player like Patterson, the best case scenario is in the next couple weeks he is granted immediate eligibility without this new proposal becoming law.

At the very least, the proposal is a step in the right direction for something that should have been common sense decades ago. Just because things haven’t been this way for student-athletes doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been in all the years prior.

It’s time to get it right, NCAA.