Lane Kiffin: SEC Voting Today on Intra-Conference Transfer Rule
There's still a chance Ole Miss could get Otis Reece cleared soon for play.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin confirmed on a Monday morning media availability that leaders from the Southeastern Conference are voting today, Sept. 28, on lifting such restrictions on intra-SEC transfers. Kentucky coach Mark Stoops had similar statements his press conference earlier on Monday.
"I was told that vote was supposed to be happening today. So we're supposed to find out and that would obviously change things," Kiffin said. "I guess now that it's out there, I was told we were supposed to have some more information on that today, but I have not heard anything yet."
Ole Miss, who is has been awaiting eligibility news for Reese, a safety who transferred from Georgia this offseason, is not the only school that would benefit immediately from such a decision. The Rebels' week two opponent, Kentucky, is also waiting to hear on quarterback Joey Gatewood, a transfer from Auburn.
Just last week, Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, explained the position of the rule.
“There’s a very direct rule that says if you transfer from School A to School B in the SEC, you serve an academic year-of-residence (before you’re eligible),” Sankey said during an interview on a Birmingham talk radio show this past Wednesday. “There are a set of NCAA oddity exceptions. Then in 2018, our membership created two more, one for grad transfers and one for individuals on teams that face postseason bans. And people send in waivers, but one of the questions that should be asked is not what is the commissioner going to do, it’s why haven’t our members voted to change that rule.”
In a similar press conference, Sankey would not discuss singular transfer cases, but essentially made it clear that the current rule, as written, will prohibit in-conference transfers from being eligible.
Well, that vote to change such a rule may be happening imminently, as confirmed today by both Stoops and Kiffin.
If such a change went through, players like Reese and Gatewood could theoretically be eligible to play as early as this week. Obviously, it's something Kiffin is in favor of.
"You had the rule in place that you have to sit, but if you win an NCAA waiver for things, I don't know why you'd have to go over an SEC hurdle," Kiffin said. "That doesn't make sense to me. I know why it was – people didn't want kids transferring in conference. But that's not what it's supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about the student athletes."
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