Ryan Mallett wants the NCAA to grant him a waiver on having to sit out a year as a result of his transfer from Michigan to Arkansas. And the University of Arkansas has announced its “support” for his appeal.
Now first let me say that I think the NCAA ought to look into some sort of modification of the eligibility rule for kids who find themselves in Mallett’s shoes. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that if Rodriguez had been the head coach a year ago that Mallett would neither have been recruited by or signed with Michigan.
“He didn’t fit the system there,” Debbie Mallett said. “It’s not his fault that the university hired Coach Rodriguez. Certainly, Coach Rodriguez should be allowed to run the offense he wants to run. And when I tried to talk to Ryan about possibly staying through the spring, he said, ‘ He didn’t recruit me out of high school. He’s not interested in me. That’s not the type of quarterback he wants to run his offense. ‘ Ryan said he thought that it would be a total waste of his time…”
That being said, it’s a little disconcerting to hear things put so baldly by his parents.
“If they had maintained the same style of offense with Rich Rodriguez there,” Debbie Mallett said,” Ryan would have never transferred. It’s not a personality thing. It’s not that he didn’t like Michigan. That offense is not in his best interest to get him to his ultimate goal which is one day hopefully to be in the NFL. He needs to be where he can start realizing that opportunity if at all possible. We are hoping they will at least entertain the idea and listen to the arguments and go from there.”
Yeah, the rule sucks for someone like Mallett. But it is what it is right now. How does the NCAA justify giving Mallett a waiver and ignoring countless other student athletes who have been in the same boat? That’s simply not fair.
And while I’m at it, what can you say about the ballsy hypocrisy of the Arky administration? They had no problem holding up kids like Mustain when they wanted to leave the program, but now, Mallett is worthy of their support. What a joke.
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UPDATE: Some thoughts about how to update the eligibility rule here.
Get The Picture 
All he has to do is get a few Congressman involved and threaten an anti-trust law suit, NCAA will fold like a road map. They just folded over the players money issue and they will roll over on this. NCAA is first and foremost a political organization and they know who controls the tax-exempt status.
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