The Lions' Pride

I have never understood that. If said kid already has undergraduate degree and intends to go to grad school and wants to do so at another school, I can't see how UMD could control where he goes in this instance. That said, O'Brien is a different bird. He has graduated in three years, not four, so ...

It probably isn't worth his time if he has nice offers to go elsewhere.

It's by NCAA rule.

It's also legally binding because the NCAA is a group of universities who have joined together and have created rules that they have chosen to abide by.

Playing college football is not a god given right. Schools are allowed to determine among themselves who is eligible to play and who is not - and the NCAA is the vehicle by which they make those choices.

Yes I know that the NCAA rule governs transfers. Sorry, I'll clarify more. It was poorly written as I was walking to a lunch meeting, my mistake. And yes I know whether or not you signed a LOI the NCAA looks at transfers, I have helped athletes with that in the past.

LOI thing is weird. As we were talking about it last week. Once a player signs it they are committed to that school. to go somewhere else you must be released from it. However, if you sign a LOI and have not enrolled there is no transfer penalty

" if you sign a LOI and have not enrolled there is no transfer penalty"

That's only true if you get released from your LOI. If you don't get released, there's a really big penalty in that you not only have to sit out a year but you also lose a year of eligibility. That's even worse than transferring because transfers can at least use a redshirt year to sit out.

I'm not clear what you are referring to by "that" in "that's what happened when".

It sounds like you are saying that Tennessee had kids who signed a LOI but went somewhere else even though they had signed an LOI.

I can assure you that if that happened and the kids played without sitting out a year, then Tennessee released the kids from their LOI. If you can name some kids, I'd be glad to look them up and prove it to you.

EDIT: Here. I'll prove it without any names. Lane Kiffin took the job with USC on January 13th. National Letter of Intent signing day is in February so Tennessee couldn't have had ANY kids who had signed LOIs before he left.

Tennessee had two pretty decent names scheduled to start early, Brandon Willis was one and the other name escapes me. Those two were on campus and already move in once Kiffin bolted. Willis packed up and left for UNC.

So we're both right?

I think you might be wrong. The LOI becomes binding when the player enrolls, not when he signs it. Ejuan Price SIGNED his LOI to play for Ohio State in Febuary of last year, but got released and played for Pitt this past year. He didn't have to sit out a year like a transfer normally has to because he never enrolled at Ohio State. Maybe the NCAA changed the rules from last year, but Price transferred without sitting a year and had no hardship waiver (like a lot of transfers do when they get to play right away).

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.sites.post-gazette.com%2Findex.php%2Fsports%2Fvarsity-blog%2F28012-woodland-hills-lb-ejuan-price-will-attend-pitt-stepoli-no-longer-at-monessen&ei=-aZAT4noOquw0QHr4bi4Bw&usg=AFQjCNF1oA-J0X9gGwdqjovveNwBTG7MJQ

Foolish question, nobody is ever as correct as UncleLar. Otherwise, he wouldn't have corrected you in the first place, right UncleLar?

I assure you that I'm not wrong.

You are confusing two things.

1. The LOI is binding when you sign it.
2. The NCAA transfer rules become applicable when you enroll in school and attend your first class.

Those are two different animals.

Price was able to play for Pitt because Ohio State gave him a release from his LOI. Had he not gotten a release, then not only would he have had to sit out a year but he also would have lost an entire year of eligibility. The NCAA transfer rules never applied to Price because he didn't take any classes at Ohio State.

NCAA rules make my head spin. They seem to go in circles and make no sense sometimes.