Oklahoma pursuing waiver that would allow receiver to play this year
Now that Johnny Manziel has left college football and is now a thorn in the NFL’s side, fans are now looking for something else to talk about this offseason.
Turns out breaking into an apartment and throwing an 18-year-old girl down some stairs when you’re already skating on thin ice will do the trick.
Former Missouri Tiger wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, was recently let go by the University of Missouri due to several off-field incidents with the aforementioned scenario serving as the straw that broke the—in this case—tiger’s back.
It wasn’t long before a talent-hungry head coach showed up at the wide receiver’s door, offering him a spot on a team. Usually when a player gets cut from a Division I football program, they take the Division II route so they don’t have to go an entire year without playing football.
However, this time it was head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners Bob Stoops who showed up on Green-Beckham’s proverbial doorstep.
Now, reports have indicated that Green-Beckham and the Sooners are now seeking a waiver from the NCAA granting the troubled football star instant eligibility for the 2014 season.
The waiver that Green-Beckham is seeking is called a “run-off” waiver, and is designed for players who are capable of meeting a certain level of criteria.
First, the school filing the waiver on behalf of the player would have to provide documentation demonstrating that the player would not be able to return to the university for reasons outside the control of the player.
This should be the deal breaker for Stoops and Green-Beckham. The problem—as far as we know—began in 2012, Green-Beckham’s freshman year, when he was suspended for a game after a police officer caught him smoking pot in a car on campus. He, along with two other teammates, later plead guilty to second-degree trespassing in the case.
Green-Beckham was able to stay clean for nearly a year and a half, but was arrested, along with two other men, and booked in the Greene County Jail after a police officer found an entire pound of marijuana in the back of a Jeep Cherokee he was riding in.
Less than three months later, Green-Beckham forced his way into a residence—so hard that he punctured a whole in the drywall—then proceeded to push resident Taylor Drayton down at least four stairs onto the floor.
The only reason Drayton refused to press charges against Green-Beckham was because she was “afraid of being harassed and having her property damaged just because she was the victim,” according to a Columbia Police Department report.
That doesn’t necessarily bode well for the next stipulation of the “run-off” waiver, which requires a written statement from the student-athlete’s previous institution indicating that they support the request to let the player in question regain his eligibility.
There is a third prong to the waiver, which states that the student-athlete must be in good academic standing with the university.
Whether or not Green-Beckham is awarded the waiver by the NCAA is considered a long shot. However, it shouldn’t even be a question.
Green-Beckham’s behavior not only undermines every NCAA student-athlete doing their best to abide by the rules, but also his fans and their allegiance.
It’s not likely that it ever crosses his mind, but last season there’s a pretty good chance that there was a child in Columbia, MO who looked up to Green-Beckham and may have even considered the athlete his or her hero.
That’s a lot of weight for a 21-year-old college student, but if you’re going to put yourself in the spotlight, you have to prepare yourself for both the positives and the negatives.