Former Texas A&M LB may have just given future transfers a blueprint for playing right away
By Adam Spencer
Published:
On Tuesday evening, an explosive new report from USA TODAY detailed allegations against coach Jimbo Fisher and his Texas A&M staff made by former LB Santino Marchiol.
Marchiol, who followed former coach Kevin Sumlin to Arizona, made some serious claims against his former school, including that he was paid to host recruits on “unofficial” visits.
While it’s possible that stuff like that goes on around the country, the fact that Marchiol brought it up in his waiver request to try to get immediate eligibility for Arizona is intriguing. Could this, in fact, be a blueprint for future transfers?
The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel said Marchiol’s decision to speak publicly on the matter applies pressure to the NCAA:
I think it's more that he's going public w/ his justification to ratchet up the pressure — which is fascinating. Could this be a blueprint for future transfers? https://t.co/g4fSSiW2lF
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 21, 2018
SB Nation’s Wescott Eberts thinks this could be a wake-up call for coaches. If former players can air violations in exchange for immediate playing time (which we don’t know if the NCAA will grant to Marchiol or not), it puts pressure on coaches to keep their programs clean:
https://twitter.com/SBN_Wescott/status/1032025756287868933
Again, we don’t know if the NCAA will rule in Marchiol’s favor or not, but if he does get immediate eligibility, it gives a ton of power to transferring players from here on out.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
