North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Writes Letter in Support of UNC WR Tez Walker

After the news broke on Tuesday that UNC wide receiver Tez Walker would not be eligible for the 2023 season, voices from across the country came out in support of the preseason first team All-ACC honoree. Those voices now include the governor of Walker’s home state.

Roy Cooper wrote a letter on Walker’s behalf to NCAA president — and former governor of Massachusetts — Charlie Baker, urging Baker to honor UNC’s appeal for Walker’s immediate eligibility.

“This is the first time I have taken such an action,” Cooper wrote in his letter, “but this is an unusual and compelling case amidst the backdrop of all the major changes happening in the NCAA.”

Cooper outlined several points which UNC head coach Mack Brown mentioned on Tuesday when breaking the news of Walker’s eligibility. Cooper noted that since North Carolina Central cancelled its 2020 football season — which would’ve been Walker’s first in college — Kent State was “the only school at which he had a chance to play,” and these unique circumstances “should be taken into consideration.”

Cooper also pointed out how the NCAA’s stricter rules regarding multi-time transfers changed two days after Walker enrolled at Carolina, under the impression he’d be immediately eligible.

“Tez and other student-athletes like him deserve to be grandfathered into the rules that existed previously,” Cooper wrote.

Lastly, Cooper made mention of Walker’s ailing grandmother, who Walker described in a statement earlier this week as his “rock.” According to both Brown and Walker, his grandmother was too ill to travel to Kent State to watch Walker’s games and has never seen him play college football. A native of Charlotte, she was planning to come to the season opener against South Carolina in Bank of America Stadium and at least some of UNC’s seven home games this fall.

“Recognizing all that he has been through to get to this point in his career,” Cooper wrote, “it would be a shame if the NCAA would deny his desire to be closer to her in her illness and to share his athletic journey with her.

“During your service as Governor of Massachusetts, I admired your dogged pursuit of commonsense solutions to our thorniest problems,” Cooper went on to write. “In your current service leading the NCAA, I have great hope that you will be able to bring that same thoughtful approach to the rapidly evolving world of college sports.”

Read Cooper’s full letter here.

Cooper is not the only politician to speak out in support of a home-state athlete. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) published a letter to Baker yesterday supporting the immediate eligibility of Darrell Jackson, Jr., who transferred from Miami to Florida State this offseason. Like Walker, Jackson made the move to be closer to family and has been ruled ineligible for the 2023 season.

Featured image via Associated Press/Hannah Schoenbaum

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North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Writes Letter in Support of UNC WR Tez Walker

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