Fearlessly say what he thinks, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin said Tuesday the concept that school players who don’t play football this fall deserve to be allowed to move and be eligible without delay for a team that plays.
Several primary conferences, adding Big Ten and Pac-12, have ended the fall football festival, while others, adding the Southeastern Conference, still hope to play.
“I think it’s a shame,” Kiffin said in an interview with SEC Network’s Dari Nowkhah. “Many of them have a lot of money at stake for the next level, or they just need to play their later years. It’s a real shame that the NCAA doesn’t allow them to play and be eligible right away. It doesn’t make sense to me. “
Under NCAA moving rules, a non-graduate student moving to another FBS school would have to spend a full season. Exceptions are granted for other individual circumstances, however, no exemption will be made for players on closed systems due to COVID-19, Kiffin said.
“I did this consultation at our convention when it started to happen,” Kiffin said. “I was told that this would not be a component of the waiver process. It’s a shame for children, especially now that, despite everything, we’re saying we’re doing the right things for the kids. That would be one of them.”
The NCAA has its reasons for not the proposal to move quickly.
Of the 76 FBS schools that make plans to play football this fall, the maximum does not have many scholarships available so close to the season. Another challenge is that it would amount to a season of open recruitment in schools with closed programs.