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Tez Walker’s appeal will be heard this week, but NOT by the NCAA.
In his weekly press conference, Mack Brown clarified what happened last week with his ineligible wide receiver and that a decision should be coming this Thursday after Walker’s case is heard by an independent committee.
UNC’s appeal went to the NCAA based on letters written by N.C. Central and its conference, the MEAC, stating that Walker should be able to play right away because, in 2020, they did not play football due to COVID and weren’t sure the season would resume in 2021, when Tez transferred from Central to Kent State.
“The NCAA office said that they would not overturn his appeal because of those two letters,” Brown said. “So now there is a committee that’s outside of the NCAA that’s going to hear it Thursday morning, and they will see if they will overturn the appeal or not. And that’s where we are.”
Walker’s appeal is based on the policy that when a player transfers from a school that cancels its season, he should have a “free transfer” and play at his next school right away. The outside committee said it will announce a decision after the meeting
.
“We’re not sure who they are,’’ Brown said. “It’s nameless, faceless people from different universities across the country. Some are compliance directors, and they bring them in to look at cases like this outside of the NCAA that work with the NCAA on decision making. And that’s what I’m told.”
So we should know by the end of the week whether Walker can play against App State Saturday evening, as the Tar Heels try to snap a two-game home losing streak dating back to Georgia Tech and N.C. State last year.
Walker’s case has attracted national news, and he is by far not the only player sitting out for varied reasons.
The Heels took the field against South Carolina without two others listed as starters on the depth chart: fellow transfer wide receiver Nate McCollum and DB DeAndre Boykins, who is out for the season.
But the team has rallied around Walker’s plight because it seems unfair. Drake Maye wore Walker’s jersey inside out to a press conference over the weekend, and country singer Eric Church (an App State graduate who will toss the coin before the 5:15 kickoff) asked Brown if he could wear his high school jersey with Walker’s No. 34 on the sideline during the game. And he will.
“So this seems like a common sense issue,” Brown said, “and people want to step up.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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