NCAA Denies Shawn Oakman Immediate Eligibility

Building on their stunning failure in the UNC academic fraud case, the NCAA has, according to John Werner of the Waco Trib, denied Shawn Oakman's request for a waiver of the transfer rules requiring that he sit out a season. Baylor and Oakman hoped that he would be immediately eligibility this season, since he is no longer able to take the benefit of a redshirt year.

In a turn of events that should surprise no one associated with Baylor Athletics, the NCAA took their sweet time in denying a request that could have been resolved weeks ago. That failure, only one of many in this case, pushed back the timetable such that Baylor's appeal will not be decided until after the first game against SMU this coming Sunday. Based on how things have gone so far, we may know some time after Christmas. Coach Briles reportedly expressed optimism that the NCAA will accept the appeal and overturn their decision, but his time with us has been relatively short and he may just not know how these things work. If the NCAA can put the screws to us, Art, it will do so.

Never mind the fact that, as I noted a three weeks ago, they already cleared Derrick Thomas to play for Marshall. It's not like these two situations are almost exactly the same.

This is a blow to Baylor's strength at the DE position, where it hoped Oakman could provide depth in his first year on campus. Oakman, a 6-8, 250-pound former 4* recruit, announced his intention to transfer to Baylor early this summer after having been dismissed from Penn State's program by new coach Bill O'Brien.