The NCAA’s decision to suspend star LSU defensive tackle Maason Smith` for the season-opener against Florida State on Sunday has resulted in wide media backlash, not just from LSU media but from the national contingent, as well.
On3’s Andy Staples voiced his frustration with recent NCAA decisions to refuse eligibility waivers for players like Colorado’s Tyler Brown, North Carolina’s Tez Walker and Florida State’s Darrell Jackson.
“(Brown) enrolled at Colorado in December,” Staples said, per On3. “That was before the NCAA did change this rule. And yes, they said the rule change was coming. But if we all remember — the NCAA also said NIL was going to be allowed on July 1, 2021. So, when Maason Smith, the LSU defensive tackle, participated in an autograph signing about a month before that — well, he probably shouldn’t have been punished using that logic.
“Oh, wait. He’s missing the Florida State game because of doing something that is completely within the rules now. This is why everyone hates the NCAA.”
SEC Network host Paul Finebaum also took issue with the suspension.
“When I started thinking about it a month before NIL, just show some compassion,” he said. “Having seen Charlie Baker speak earlier this year in Washington DC and listening to him blame everything on the NCAA while he was the NCAA president, I walked out of there going, ‘This guy is a change agent. He’s going to do things differently.’ Two months later, I haven’t seen one thing different from the NCAA other than a bunch of hot air.
“I know it may be against the NCAA rules, but they went against their own rules at Penn State. This is where I’d like to see some leadership from Charlie Baker or someone up there saying, ‘You know what? Let’s mitigate this problem. We have a situation going on at North Carolina. We have the situation here. Let’s try to help the player.’
“Instead, they continue to make it more difficult. We’re not talking about some crazy scheme here to funnel millions of dollars. We’re talking about a 30-day window where if somebody had done it, it would’ve been legal.”
Regardless of the backlash, Smith will have to wait until Week 2’s home opener against Grambling to return from the torn ACL he suffered in last year’s season opener.
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