USC Juniors/Seniors Can Transfer w/o Sitting a Year

[PingBull]

Interesting...I wonder if any of them came from the Tampa area and would like to play their last two years at home....

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=5275644

Transferring juniors, seniors can play

ESPN.com news services

Juniors and seniors to-be on the USC Trojans' football team, hit with a two-year postseason ban among other punishments, will be allowed to transfer to other FBS programs without having to sit out a season, the NCAA clarified to ESPN on Friday.

"The second school would have to submit a waiver asking to waive the year in residence, but NCAA rules allow for this waiver to be granted if a student-athlete's first school has a postseason ban in their sport," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said in an e-mail to ESPN's Joe Schad.

The rule does not apply to freshman who have signed national letters of intent, however. But schools with an interest in a USC junior or senior are allowed to initiate contact with the player, Osburn said.

The NCAA threw the book at USC on Thursday with a two-year bowl ban, four years' probation, loss of scholarships and forfeits of an entire year's games for improper benefits to Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush dating to the Trojans' 2004 national championship.

USC was penalized for a lack of institutional control in the ruling by the NCAA following its four-year investigation. The report cited numerous improper benefits for Bush and former basketball player O.J. Mayo, who spent just one year with the Trojans.

The coaches who presided over the alleged misdeeds -- football's Pete Carroll and basketball's Tim Floyd -- left USC in the past year.

The penalties include the loss of 30 football scholarships over three years and vacating 14 victories in which Bush played from December 2004 through the 2005 season.

USC beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game on Jan. 4, 2005, and won 12 games during Bush's Heisman-winning 2005 season, which ended with a loss to Texas in the 2006 BCS title game.

The BCS is likely to force Southern California to vacate its national championship. BCS executive director Bill Hancock says in a statement Thursday that the presidential oversight committee will meet soon to discuss whether USC will be stripped of its title.

If that happens, there will be no BCS champion for the 2004-05 season. Hancock said no action would be taken by the BCS until the appeal is heard. The NCAA says Bush received lavish gifts from two fledgling sports marketers hoping to sign him. The men paid for everything from hotel stays and a rent-free home where Bush's family apparently lived to a limousine and a new suit when he accepted his Heisman in New York in December 2005.

USC reaction

Living with scholarship cuts and bowl bans is severe. But the coaches who have endured those conditions say there are steps USC can take, writes ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel. Story

The NCAA threw down the gauntlet, as ESPN.com's Ted Miller details. The penalties exceed in severity sanctions Alabama received in 2002 and Washington in 1993. Blog

A whole lot of people didn't see the shock-and-awe punishment coming, but the NCAA's message was thunderous. There's a smoking crater in L.A. to prove it, Pat Forde writes. Story

The NCAA found that Bush, identified as a "former football student-athlete," was ineligible beginning at least by December 2004, a ruling that could open discussion on the revocation of the New Orleans Saints star's Heisman. Members of the Heisman Trust have said they might review Bush's award if he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.

While the bowl ban is the most damaging to first-year coach Lane Kiffin, who will have to ratchet up his formidable recruiting skills to tempt players with no hope of postseason play before 2012, USC also will lose 30 scholarships over a three-year period, 10 annually from 2011 to '13.

"We've had contact with a number of our signees today, a number of their families," Kiffin said. "We have had great response from them about their excitement about joining our program and continuing USC's championship level of play. "I told the team, and I made sure they understood, that this is something happening to them that's adversity. Football, we talk about all the time, is about adversity, as is life. Our older players have played in a lot of bowl games. Our fifth-year seniors, a number of them have won a number of bowl games already, have played in three Rose Bowl championships."

USC is the first Football Bowl Subdivision school to be banned from postseason play since Alabama served a two-year ban ending in 2003. The NCAA issued no bowl bans during the tenure of late president Myles Brand, but the NCAA reportedly regained interest in the punishment over the past year.

"The real issue here is if you have high-profile players that your enforcement staff has to monitor," said Paul Dee, chairman of the NCAA's committee on infractions.

"It is extremely likely that the people who are receiving these interactions outside the institution are going to receive a bigger reward," Dee added. "So higher-profile players require higher-profile monitoring."

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.

[PingBull]

They only have 1 junior that's from Florida, from BJ's school...

38 Bryant, T.J. CB 6-0 180 JR 2V Tallahassee, FL (Lincoln)

[Mama_Bull]

I presume that incoming USC signee 4-star CB Nickell Robey (Frostproof) would be granted a release. We were in his final top three.

http://southflorida.scout.com/a.z?s=359&p=8&c=1&nid=3957338

[BDYZR]

Read the second highlighted(IN RED) paragraph up top!

[Mama_Bull]

Read the second highlighted(IN RED) paragraph up top!

I did.

Now, read this.

A stipulation in the NCAA's ruling allows juniors and seniors to transfer away from the program to a D-1 school without needing to sit out a year. NCAA bylaws also allow new recruits who haven't enrolled to be released from their letter of intent.

Nickell Robey, CB

Cornerback Nickell Robey made a very late switch to USC in joining the 2010 class, reneging on his commitment to the Georgia Bulldogs just days before signing day.

The Frostproof, Forida, native could reopen his recruitment to the SEC schools or recommit to the Georgia Bulldogs if he felt USC's situation was too poisoned for him. He's not a native of California, and that may make it easier to renege again.

Georgia's secondary could still use the help, and Robey also held offers from Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, and Tennessee among many others.

If he wanted to, Rivals' No. 9 cornerback could have his pick of the litter.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/404365-seantrel-henderson-and-9-other-players-who-could-transfer-away-from-usc

[BDYZR]

Got me.

[Mama_Bull]

Got me.

Hey, I've been got too. LOL

BTW, Greg Auman is already on it in rersponse to a question about possible USC transfers in response to a post:

Bob, it's reasonable to think USF should have a scholarship or two available for incoming transfers. I talked to the high school coach for Frostproof CB Nickell Robey last night, and it's possible he may ask for a release, though no decision has been made.

Posted by: G.A. | June 11, 2010 at 02:58 PM

[smazza]

i dont think many top players are leaving usc