Ray Tanner not pleased with NCAA process for Jalen Brooks waiver
South Carolina AD Ray Tanner isn’t one to speak out too much on these topics, but in a radio interview Wednesday, he had a few thoughts on the NCAA transfer waiver process, an opaque procedure that decides if transfers have to sit out a season.
He’d just finished listening to Jay Philips of 107.5 The Game deliver thoughts on the situation of Jalen Brooks, a Gamecocks receiver who transferred twice this offseason. And Tanner agreed with the critiques of the seemingly arbitrary nature of how those waivers are given out.
“It just seems to be too many inconsistencies and arbitrary decisions that get made,” Tanner said. “You can say everything is case by case, but it doesn’t seem consistent at times that it is case by case. We’ve done an appeal to try to get his eligibility as quickly as possible. I don’t know how much luck we’ll have doing that.”
Brooks’ initial waiver was denied by the NCAA, and the school is the midst of appealing the decision.
Last year, the Gamecocks had to wait until the middle of Week 2 before tight end Nick Muse was made eligible by the NCAA.
Tanner pointed out college sports might well be headed toward every player getting one transfer without the penalty of a year off the field or court.
Brooks posted more than 700 yards at more than 20 yards per catch as sophomore at Wingate. He transferred up to Tarlton State before getting the chance to join the Gamecocks.
South Carolina could use another big body at wide receiver after Shi Smith carried a heavy offensive load against Tennessee in the opener. But the process for Brooks carries on behind the scenes, not in public and with a timeline the school even doesn’t have much sense of.
“Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t,” Tanner said. “But we really never get, sometimes, a clear answer as to why it wasn’t granted. It’s more general based on the information that we had. ... It’s frustrating, disappointing.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 3:28 PM.
