Once-homeless Baylor walk-on Silas Nacita to play in NAIA
Former Baylor walk-on Silas Nacita, whom the school declared permanently ineligible in March, will continue his career at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, an NAIA program, he wrote in an essay on Bleacher Report.
Nacita, a running back, said last month that he was ruled ineligible for receiving benefits including housing and food from family acquaintances.
Nacita enrolled at Baylor last fall without a place to live and with a financial aid package that covered tuition but not books. He carried 31 times for 191 yards and three touchdowns for Baylor in 2014.
Nacita said he was courted by numerous NAIA schools. He ended up Southwestern Assemblies of God in Waxahachie, which competes in the Central States Football League.
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Via Bleacher Report:
After the Bleacher Report article hit and news of my ineligibility broke, just about every top NAIA program called me and immediately expressed interest. Places in Iowa, Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska—there had to be at least 10 programs that called.
It felt good to be wanted. I wasn't recruited to Baylor, and I was always "just a walk-on" there, but at this point, I'm way past the recruiting phase. I've gone through so much; now it's all about just playing football.
After I committed to SAGU, I picked up my journal for the first time in a long time.
Nacita said he is motivated to become one of the best players at the NAIA level.
I had been writing "2014 Baylor Playmaker" or "2015 Baylor Playmaker" as my goals since 2013, but after I found out I was ineligible, I didn't know what to write. I didn't know what to say. I let it go and stopped writing altogether. I lost it, at least temporarily.
The day after I agreed to join SAGU, I found it again. I was ready to write. I had something to say. The first thing I wrote down was...
NAIA All-American.
- This post has been updated to reflect that it was not the NCAA that ruled Nacita ineligible.
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