NCAA Delays Vote On Transfer Waiver, Could Be A Blow For Boston College

With the decision to delay the vote on transfer waivers, the NCAA has made BC reliant on a waiver request. And we have see how inconsistently those are awarded.

The NCAA Board of Directors has recommended a delay on the voting of the one-time transfer rule originally proposed by the DI Transfer Waiver Working Group, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as their reasoning.

"The board agreed to lift the moratorium on transfer legislation for the 2020-21 legislative cycle but recommended to the Council that changes to the waiver process as suggested by the working group are not appropriate at this time. Board members recommended the waiver process be sensitive to student-athlete well-being, especially those impacted by COVID-19 in the interim period." - NCAA Board of Directors

The proposed ruling would have impacted five sports that force most non-graduate student transfers to sit a year. Those sports being baseball, men's hockey, football, and men's and women's basketball. This delay doesn't mean that the ruling is dead, it just means the group is putting off the vote. 

This rule change was initially proposed as a measure to help mitigate the uneven method in which transfer waiver requests were or were not granted. There were no clear guidelines of late that made it clear whose claims would be granted and whose wouldn't. In just the past year there were players like Tate Martell, Justin Fields and Shea Patterson who were granted immediate eligibility. While a player like Brock Hoffman was denied, even though he wanted to be close to a sick family member. 

This delay is big news for Boston College, who now have to wait on their waiver request for Notre Dame transfer quarterback Phil Jurkovec. Jurkovec would not qualify under a graduate student waiver, and would need NCAA approval. In his Zoom meeting with the press today, head coach Jeff Hafley explained that the NCAA still has yet to rule on Jurkovec's claim. If the standard transfer waiver claim is not approved, he will have to sit the year, and Boston College will have to play someone from the group of Dennis Grosel, Matt Valecce, Sam Johnson IV or Daelen Menard at starting quarterback. 

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