Georgia football: The NCAA has a transfer problem

Two former Georgia football players have become examples this offseason of just how broken the NCAA transfer system is.

On Wednesday, former Georgia football player Luke Ford had his transfer waiver request denied by the NCAA. Three months earlier, Justin Fields who transferred to Ohio State had his accepted.

Based off that decision, you could assume that Fields must have had a much better reason for transferring than Ford. Perhaps there were mitigating circumstances that forced him to move?

After initially suggesting that his Fields was going to imply systematic racism within the Georgia system as his reason for leaving, he and his very famous lawyer Thomas Mars said that they presented no such evidence.

Instead, they apparently presented ‘irrefutable evidence that did not reflect poorly on anyone at UGA.’ What that evidence was, we’ll never know, but apparently, Fields said UGA was great but that he wanted to go somewhere else and play right away. He won the day, and his request was granted.

More from Dawn of the Dawg

• Georgia Football: Top 5 Nick Chubb Moments at Georgia
• Georgia Football: Know the enemy UAB Blazers
• Nick Chubb is America’s running back, and he will return
• Georgia Football: Should laundry list of injuries be a cause to panic?
• Georgia Football: Report cards for Week 3 game against South Carolina

Ford, on the other hand, transferred to be closer to his ailing grandfather.

Originally from Illinois, Ford was attracted to UGA because of the chance to play for a national power. But the change in his Grandfathers health made him want to be closer to home.

He’s very close to his family, and I think we can all understand his desire to give them a better chance to see him play.

Unlike Fields, Ford did not hire a famous and high-cost attorney and simply presented his case to the NCAA.

Considering Fields and Tate Martell who left OSU because of Fields’ transfer were both granted waivers by the NCAA, you could be forgiven for thinking that we had essentially entered the wild west for transfers.

There were no more rules that would stop people from going wherever they want, and while you might not like that, at least it would have been fair.

Instead, what we’ve seen happen to Ford shows that the system is even more broken than we thought. It’s not about actually doing the right thing for these kids or the institutions involved. Instead, we have a two-tier system where those with specific resources get treated differently from those without.

Before I go any further, I want to be clear about something. I’ve been critical of Fields for leaving, but I’m not criticizing him for his use of Mars.

It’s his career, and he and his family are well within their rights to use whatever resources they can to do what’s best for them. My criticism in this article is centered on one place alone, the NCAA.

Look UGA has benefitted in the past from some of these decisions. Demetris Robertson was allowed to play last season even if he didn’t make much of an impact. I just find it frankly disgraceful that Ford would receive the opposite result when his decision was for the same reason.

Let’s put this into even more perspective, shall we? Ford decided to transfer so that his grandfather could see him play in person.

Then the NCAA denied him the right to play the game he loves for a whole season, meaning that his grandfather will have to wait another 18 months for that to happen.

Heaven forbid this happens, but what if he doesn’t make it that long? The governing institution of this sport will have denied that man what I’m sure would have been one of the most incredible moments of his life. And while they refused him, they allowed others with more resources and lesser reasons.

The two decisions essentially set the precedent that if you have resources, be it money or fame; you’ll get preferential treatment over those who do not.

This precedent is merely unacceptable from the institution that governs the sports. We quite rightly expect institutions not to discriminate for or against people for any reason.

Right now, the NCAA is quite happily discriminating against those who don’t have a big national profile in favor of those who do. In doing so, they’re deliberately helping some kids and hurting others. That’s morally reprehensible.

What’s even more frustrating is that it doesn’t have to be this way. THIS. SHOULD. BE. REALLY. EASY. Either let people transfer where they want or don’t.

This isn’t difficult, but instead of picking a basic process and sticking with it, the NCAA has botched up this issue so badly, it’s impossible to trust them to fix it.

For years the NCAA has come down hard on schools that have broken their rules and accused them of a lack of ‘institutional control.’ The irony that they have been ‘out of control’ for the past decade is no longer funny. At this point, it’s time for schools to start thinking about what the hell they are going to do about this institution that quite frankly is not fit for purpose. They’ve become a joke wrapped in a parody that hurt the kids that they are supposed to represent because of their insane incompetence.

The NCAA is so bad at what they do that they make the NFL’s league office look like absolute world beaters. Are these seriously the people that we’re trusting to run, protect and develop the sports that all of us love and cherish? I think we can all agree that if you’re making Roger Goodell look like he’s Superman, then chances are you’re pretty damn screwed.

I don’t care how it happens; I don’t care what it takes, it’s time for somebody to grab this institution by the throat and bring real, serious change from top to bottom. It should never have got to this point, but it has. Someone, please take the matches out of these idiots hands now before they burn the whole house down. Lord knows they’ve been trying hard enough.