NORMAN – With Joe Mixon not with the Oklahoma football team currently, and with police hoping to have their report filed to the DA late next week, perhaps this is a good time to revisit Dorial Green-Beckham.
Remember him? The wide receiving phenom who showed up on the OU campus July 3 and officially joined team later that day?
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The Sooners brought Green-Beckham in to help him, given his troubles at Missouri, but also to play him. They’re trying to get him an NCAA eligibility waiver so he doesn’t have to sit out the 2014 season like most FBS transfers.
The problem as of Wednesday night? OU hasn’t been able to file the waiver request because officials are waiting on one last bit of paperwork from Missouri. Green-Beckham’s former school has been cooperative with his new one generally, but now must help once more.
The timeline is critical, given that the Sooners are ultimately at the NCAA’s mercy here.
They could be rejected altogether, forcing Green-Beckham to sit out this fall and make a decision following the season – stay at OU and reward Bob Stoops for his faith by playing in 2015, or turn pro and hope Sooner coaches vouch for his character even if they never had him on Owen Field (assuming Green-Beckham stays out of trouble while in Norman).
Or, the NCAA could rule in OU’s favor based on the run-off waiver or whatever rules/precedents the organization applies. Two years ago, the NCAA ruled in the Sooners’ favor and allowed Jalen Saunders to play the season after the wide receiver transferred from Fresno State.
Of course, the ruling didn’t come down until October, just as Saunders was pulling on his redshirt. Saunders was a big help over the last nine games of OU’s 2012 season. Imagine how he could have helped during the first four, including OU’s Sept. 22 loss to Kansas State, a setback that ultimately cost the Sooners an outright Big 12 championship.
The NCAA, as the Sooners learned that year, doesn’t play favorites when it reviews appeals. Your get your turn in Indianapolis just like everybody else, but you have to get in line first.
Right now, OU is waiting to get in line.