First reported by Greg Madia of The Daily Progress, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will grant an additional year of eligibility to University of Virginia football players that do not have any eligibility remaining. The University of Virginia submitted the request to the NCAA, and the NCAA granted the request after the university’s season was halted after ten games.
The University of Virginia canceled its remaining games against Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech after the devastating deaths of 3 football players, Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry. During the weeks of the canceled games, Virginia football players took part in each of the funerals for their teammates and a memorial service on campus.
Typically, Division I athletes, including football players at Virginia, have five years to play four seasons of competition, beginning at the time of enrollment. In 2020, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to winter and spring sports, which extends the clock for 2020/2021-enrolled athletes to six years.
If an extraordinary circumstance prevents an athlete(s) from meeting the eligibility rules, a school can file a waiver on the athlete(s) behalf. Here, due to outgoing athletes being unable to complete their careers, the University of Virginia sought a waiver of the eligibility timeline. Now, those athletes will be able to play an additional year.
Importantly, the waiver is limited to those athletes that have exhausted their eligibility under the rule. Either way, the NCAA did the right thing, granting another year after devastating losses to the program.
Landis Barber is an attorney at Safran Law Offices in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can connect with him via LinkedIn or via his blog offthecourtdocket.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Landisbarber.
