SEC may end ban on Graduate-Student Transfers

May 28, 2014 / Football

From CBSSports.com

The SEC is considering ending its graduate-student transfer ban. Three proposals from South Carolina are being discussed at the SEC spring meetings to put the SEC more in line with the NCAA rule that lets graduate students with eligibility remaining transfer to another school.

The NCAA adopted the rule in 2006 to allow graduates to transfer for their final year of eligibility as long as their new school has a graduate program the old school doesn’t offer. The rule was seen as a carrot to athletes who graduate with eligibility left, but it has also been criticized as free agency in college sports.

The SEC applied the NCAA rule until 2011, when it opted out for one major reason: Jeremiah Masoli.

Masoli had graduated as an Oregon quarterback but got kicked off the Ducks team for disciplinary reasons. Ole Miss enrolled Masoli in a Parks and Recreation graduate program not offered at Oregon.

The NCAA initially denied Masoli’s waiver to play immediately, but Ole Miss won its appeal and Masoli played in 2010. The rule also allowed former Utah cornerback Ryan Smith to play immediately at Florida in 2006.

After the Masoli affair, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said he wished every other conference would use the SEC’s current policy, which requires athletes to have at least two years of eligibility left to transfer into the league. The SEC does provide some waivers to graduate transfers on an individual basis.

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