Syracuse Football: New NCAA measures signify Chris Bleich got hosed

The NCAA has unveiled extra eligibility and transfer measures, but Syracuse football OL Chris Bleich had his waiver request recently denied.

Last month, the NCAA ridiculously denied the waiver request by Syracuse football offensive lineman Chris Bleich for immediate eligibility after he transferred to the Hill from Florida.

That decision was non-sense, because the NCAA shows no consistency with these waiver requests in football and basketball. But stuff happens, and Bleich isn’t the first student-athlete to have his or her waiver request denied.

However, the NCAA’s Division I Council has elected to grant winter-sport athletes an additional term of competition, after similar decisions got made for spring-sport players earlier this year and, more recently, for fall-sport athletes as well.

I’m all on board with these moves, given the issues for college sports that the novel coronavirus pandemic has created. What’s more, the Division I Council has introduced a proposal that student-athletes in all sports would have the ability to transfer once and still retain immediate eligibility.

Currently, players in baseball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s ice hockey have to sit out a season before officially competing, unless they receive an NCAA waiver.

The Council has introduced this one-time transfer-exception proposal into the 2020-21 legislative cycle, and, if it’s approved, this measure would become effective for student-athletes seeking immediate eligibility during the 2021-22 campaign. I’m 100 percent in favor of this proposal, too, and wish that the NCAA had moved on this sooner.

Why I’m bringing up these NCAA initiatives as it relates to Bleich is because it makes no sense to me why the NCAA rejected his waiver request for immediate eligibility when, in his sport, all football players can have an extra year of competition, and the one-time transfer exception could soon get enacted and become official.

It would seem logical that the NCAA should have just approved Bleich’s waiver request, but, then again, logic isn’t always part of the NCAA’s repertoire.

These two tweets below, one from Bleich, are perfect examples of the NCAA’s lack of common sense in this matter. As Syracuse football fans love to post on Twitter, #FreeChrisBleich.