Dorial Green-Beckham Waiting on Release from Mizzou
Jeremy Fowler of CBS Sports:
Nearly a month after Missouri dismissed Dorial Green-Beckham over legal troubles, it appears the electric receiver has not yet been released by the school for a transfer.
Eastern Illinois, considered a potential landing strip for Green-Beckham, checked on the matter Monday and was told the player is still with Missouri and can’t discuss enrollment with a new team, according to EIU media relations director Rich Moser said.
Every media report from the time of Green-Beckham’s dismissal says he was dismissed from the football program not necessarily the university. But for the purpose of needing permission to contact other institutions, this is irrelevant. A college athlete needs permission to contact other NCAA institutions even after leaving the institution, until one year has passed since the athlete was last enrolled at the school.
Where Green-Beckham’s dismissal would make a difference is in his ability to transfer and play immediately. To transfer and play at an FCS school like Eastern Illinois, his rumored destination, Green-Beckham would use the one-time transfer exception. But like almost all transfer exceptions, there is a catch, Bylaw 14.5.1.2:
A student who transfers to any NCAA institution from a collegiate institution while the student is disqualified or suspended from the previous institution for disciplinary reasons (as opposed to academic reasons) must complete one calendar year of residence at the certifying institution.
Bylaw 14.5.5.2, which includes all the transfer exceptions, references Bylaw 14.5.1.2 and prevents athletes from using transfer exceptions after they have been suspended or expelled from the university. So if Green-Beckham has been dismissed from the university, he would not be able to use a transfer exception to play immediately, even at an FCS school. If he was only dismissed from the football team then he would be permitted to use a transfer exception. In either case though, he still needs a release.
Fowler suggests that Missouri is withholding permission-to-contact for APR reasons. That might be possible but a couple things argue against it. Green-Beckham is probably not going to be retained but the only question is whether he earns the transfer adjustment to avoid losing points for Missouri. But to earn that adjustment, he also needs to transfer directly to a four-year school. Not giving him permission to contact hinders his ability to do that. And use of the one-time transfer exception could still be withheld unless or until he earns the 2.600 GPA necessary to earn the transfer adjustment.
Missouri is also in very good shape with the APR. Granted, the 930 benchmark for postseason eligibility removes a lot of the margin for error, but Missouri’s last multi-year score was a 982 and the three single year scores that will be used in the 2012–13 APR are all 975 or above. So Missouri would be have to be facing a very poor year for Green-Beckham’s point or two to make a significant difference.
The other possibility is that Green-Beckham has his release but has not yet signed with Eastern Illinois. In that case, they may not be able to say too much about Green-Beckham’s recruitment even though they have a release.
UPDATE: Apparently a third option was the correct one. According to Pete Scantlebury of PowerMizzou.com, Green-Beckham has not signed his permission-to-contact papers, in order to prevent him from being recruited until the end of the semester. That would also seem to confirm that he is still enrolled at Missouri as well.
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