Is Jermaine Couisnard situation close to being resolved? ‘I wish I had an answer.’
South Carolina has lost one freshman guard to a redshirt this season. That news came down last Thursday when Frank Martin announced T.J. Moss’ foot and ankle surgeries.
How soon until a year off becomes official on another rookie?
Jermaine Couisnard, a freshman guard from outside Chicago, has yet to be cleared for play after a standardized test score was flagged months ago.
“I wish I had an answer,” Carolina coach Frank Martin said Monday when asked if Couisnard’s situation was close to being resolved. “I wish somebody would just give me a deadline, so that I could tell you, ‘We know on this date.’
“I wish there was a deadline. It’s frustrating.”
Should a ruling soon come down in Couisnard’s favor, is it too late to put him on the court and burn a redshirt?
USC (8-7, 3-0 SEC) is already halfway through its regular season.
“I have to stay out of those decisions — whether it’s his or the injured guys — because any opinion I would share is probably going to be biased, slanted to helping us win,” Martin said. “So I need to stay out of that. But I can tell you as a parent, if he got cleared next week, I’d probably call the coach and say, ‘Hey, I know he’s eligible, but I don’t want to burn a year.’
“As a dad, that’s what I would do.”
Martin did clarify that Couisnard, a former three-star recruit, will be fully eligible next season. He’d be a redshirt freshman.
