This could be good news regarding Lingard & Pouncey. I posted yesterday that the NCAA put off the vote on allowing immediate eligibility to all transfers for two months:
Could FSU Transfer's Immediate Eligibility Be Good News for the Gators?
Could FSU Transfer's Immediate Eligibility Be Good News for the Gators?
Because Florida has a similar transfer player on their roster in running back Lorenzo Lingard. Lingard, a native of Orange City just two hours from Gainesville, transferred to Florida in January from Miami. His previous school is double the distance from his hometown.
Lingard, considered a five-star and the No. 2 RB in the same recruiting class as Corbin, suffered a
season-ending leg injury during his freshman season. Seeing action in six games as a freshman, Lingard could not redshirt the year - but he ended up
volunteering to redshirt his sophomore year and only participated in two contests while continuing to get back to full strength.
Thus, Lingard arrives at Florida just as Corbin does at FSU - a redshirt sophomore, moving closer to home and in need of a fresh start following a devastating lower-body injury. Now, is the distance the same for the two backs returning closer to home? No, but that should not matter. The reasoning is what matters.
Lingard has yet to receive news, at least that has been made public, regarding his eligibility. When you compare his case to Corbin's, with the only real difference being that Lingard was injured a year prior to Corbin - yet played in the same amount of games in 2019 - the two appear drastically similar.
But, as on-lookers, as well as those directly involved with the NCAA, have learned: Transfer eligibility is rarely a consistent issue. Now, the NCAA is looking into
fixing that issue, but has yet to make a ruling to enforce changes regarding immediate eligibility.
This issue is something that particularly bugs Lingard's new head coach, Dan Mullen.
“I just think it would be much cleaner for everyone if it was, here’s the rule," Mullen began earlier this month during his pre-spring football press conference, regarding transfers.
"You’re immediately eligible and you can play, you get the one-time transfer waiver or you’re not and there’s no waiver process to create kids to make things up or one kid gets it and one kid doesn’t. I think there should be just a consistency within the rule, whichever one that everyone decides on."
Clarity and consistency is something the NCAA should strive for in everything they do as a multi-billion dollar industry, as these decisions directly affect the lives and careers of student-athletes - the core of what makes the NCAA its money - transferring between schools.
Which, of course, makes Lingard's case one to keep an eye on. Corbin's immediate eligibility should foreshadow the same ruling for Lingard, and if not, Mullen will have yet another good reason to once again be frustrated with the association.