A day after learning his appeal had been rejected, Texas Tech quarterback Michael Brewer found himself in a little bit of a Twitter scuffle with the university he is attempting to transfer from.
As previously reported, Brewer is scheduled to graduate from Texas Tech this spring and would be eligible to play at another FBS school this fall under the NCAA transfer rules. Two of the top choices for Brewer have been reported to be Texas and TCU. The only problem is Texas Tech is sticking to their policy of not allowing a player to transfer to another Big 12 school. Texas Tech shared a letter, dated January 21, outlining what schools would be prohibited from adding Brewer to their football roster. In addition to Texas and TCU, Texas Tech listed Big 12 schools Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia. Other schools in the state of Texas -- Houston, North Texas, Texas A&M, UTSA, Rice, SMU, Texas State and UTEP -- were also prohibited. On top of that, future Texas Tech opponents -- Arizona State, Arkansas, Central Arkansas and Sam Houston State -- were also restricted from contacting Brewer. That is a lot of schools (21 to be exact) and really cuts down on Brewer’s most ideal choices.
Brewer tweeted an image of the letter detailing that information on his Twitter account. Later, Texas Tech Associate Athletics Director of Communications Blayne Beal issued a statement on his Twitter account.
“Texas Tech has subsequently changed its stance regarding the limitation of the one-time transfer rule and permission to contact and is allowing Michael to transfer to any school he chooses outside of the Big 12 Conference, including any non-Big 12 institution in Texas, to allow him to pursue his football and academic interests,” Beal stated. “This has been communicated to him by Texas Tech officials.”
Brewer later stated on Twitter he had not been informed of that amendment to the university’s stance. Perhaps something got lost in the exchange of information, or perhaps Texas Tech got caught trying to redeem their image in a difficult situation.
Allowing schools to have so much power in determining where a student-athlete may or may not go remains frustrating for the players. If we are to believe the NCAA and universities have the best interests of the student-athletes in mind, then these squabbles would never take place. It looked as though Brewer was going to leave Texas Tech on good terms by all accounts, but that no longer appears to be the case.
