The Speedbump

Photo Attribution: Icon SMI

It all seemed a tad too smooth, didn’t it?

Gundy bans form-tackling in preseason scrimmages. Great, no injuries! Gundy instills a 10 PM curfew starting last week. Awesome, no Jordan Jefferson incidents! Unfortunately Gundy’s powers are apparently limited when it comes to academic matters and making sure they’re taking care of.

If you’re reading this you’re fully aware that Johnny Thomas and Michael Harrison have been deemed ineligible for Saturday because of “unresolved eligibility issues.” Neither is a transfer so this has nothing to do with qualification. So I’m guessing “unresolved eligibility issues” either means “freaking Deion is hanging around again!” or “these dudes can’t make grades even though they’re given a personal tutor and all the help they could possibly need.”

For reference here are some guidelines student-athletes must follow to remain eligible:

• Student-athletes must pass 36 credits per academic year (including summer school).
• Student-athletes must pass 6 degree counting credits per term (this is why Quinn Sharp didn’t play in the Alamo Bowl last year).

• Fourth year students (Thomas) must have 108 credits and a better than 2.0 GPA.
• Third year students (Harrison) must have 72 credits and a better than 1.9 GPA.

So it has to be one of these, right? I guess my question is, why are we finding out about this on the Tuesday before the first game and not two weeks ago so Daytawion Lowe could get some first team reps? And doesn’t it sound like “unresolved eligibility issues” = see you in spring ball 2012?

While we’re here, how hard is it, I mean really how difficult is it to go to your tutor, make your grades, and play on Saturdays?

I guess neither loss is debilitating from a “crap, what are we going to do without that guy” perspective. If you had to pick three units from which you could afford to lose a player they’d probably go:

1. Offensive line (so deep)
2. Wide receivers (almost too deep)
3. Running backs (5th string would get playing time at other Big 12 schools)
4. Defensive backfield

Both losses hurt OSU’s depth though. I had Harrison as one of my 20 most important people and he’s out indefinitely now. Instead of having him in the #3 or #4 WR spot all of a sudden you’re bumping up guys like Colton Chelf and Josh Stewart into roles they aren’t used to. And we’re not even going to mention the effect of this if somebody gets h-word.

Bottom line: it could be worse. Like, it could be this guy or this guy or even this guy. Or it could have been this all over again. But it’s not. It’s a tier 2 receiver and an above average safety. Does OSU need them back for the conference season? Yes. In fact, those screams you hear coming from the basement of Edmon Low right now are from professors Coach Wickline is water boarding into some grade “amendments.”

Hope it works.