PRESS PICKS: Missouri's Drinkwitz makes sense in his latest rant about signing NFL rejects
STAFF REPORT
Missouri head football coach Eli Drinkwitz can be, at times, a bit of a clown, making gestures of irrelevance from everything to opponents to his own team.
But his most recent rant hit a home run.
Drinkwitz, who is not afraid to speak his mind, took on the latest buffonery of NCAA and NIL activities pointing out something that shouldn’t be that complicated…
“We spent all summer politicking a ‘Save College Sports Act,’ and then at the last moment, we all tried to get behind it. That's not how Washington D.C. works. We've been trying to do it for six years, and it took a while to get it, to even get on board, and now, you see the results. You know, if that if that bill has passed, this stuff is not happening right now, because there's a framework for what the future of college athletics looks like. “(Texas A&M coach) Mike Elko said it a couple days ago…. in four days, the season's kicked off, and we do not know what the rules are for eligibility. That's embarrassing, man. This is the second biggest sport … in the United States, the (second-most) watched sport in the United States. And for us to be operating like this is a complete clown show. It's disappointing, and coaches have been on the forefront of saying this, and it's been ignored.”
This past weekend was NFL cutdown day and several hundred players were given their walking papers. Some will be picked up (or have been) by another NFL team. Several of those players, since they did not play a fourth or fifth season, are currently eligible to return to college due to the temorary restraining order on the ruling out of Louisiana that allows players back in college.
Drinkwitz admitted he might take some of those players since it is legal. Don’t be surprised to see teams adding to their roster as the season goes along.
The Southeastern Conference and the Big 10 are challenging the ruling. You would think this type of teamwork with attorneys in all shapes and sizes are available to the two largest leagues in college athletics. Surely they can figure out a way to beat this.
The Big 12 did in the Brenden Sorsby deal - you remember when a school attempted to supercede the rules and play a player that had gambling issues. The courts agreed with the league and Sorsby is sitting out footbal for a year.
How is this any different? Every league has eligibilty rules to go along with the NCAA. But for some reason, judges don’t believe they should be allowed to govern themselves. If this sounds like helping the little guy, any of these players who are looking to return to college could have stayed but chose to sign a pro contract to play ball.
The two leagues are certainly in their rights to say who can or can’t play as long as it doesn’t break federal law. If the players are allowed to return, who says we see a few others venture back to good ole U?
Lane Kiffin may seem like the bad guy here but there are plenty of others who will test this.
In the meantime, we watch another shoe drop on the college experience and a reminder that those of you who pay for tickets will be seeing higher prices on everything associated with your favorite school.
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Boise St at Oregon - Oregon
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East Carolina at Alabama - Alabama
Baylor vs Auburn (Atlanta) - Auburn
Sam Houston at Troy - Troy
Clemson at LSU - LSU
Louisville vs Ole Miss (Sunday@Nashville) - Ole Miss
Boise St at Oregon - Oregon
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East Carolina at Alabama - Alabama
Baylor vs Auburn (Atlanta) - Auburn
Sam Houston at Troy - Troy
Clemson at LSU - LSU
Louisville vs Ole Miss (Sunday@Nashville) - Ole Miss
Boise St at Oregon - Oregon
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Boise St at Oregon - Oregon
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Wisconsin vs Notre Dame (Sun at Green Bay) - Notre Dame
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