Willie Simmons waited through three seasons to become the starting quarterback at Clemson last fall. However, by the end of the season, he was on the bench.
Simmons did not win back the starting job in the spring, so he transferred to Florida A&M, near his hometown of Quincy, for his final season of eligibility. FAMU is a Division I-AA school, so Simmons immediately was eligible and was projected to be the starting quarterback.
After Simmons transferred to FAMU, the school announced plans to move to I-A next season. His final year of eligibility was safe - until some blockheads at the NCAA decided it wasn't. Simmons was declared ineligible at FAMU because it intended to become a I-A school, even though it was, a) I-AA when he transferred and, b) would be I-AA when he played.
Simmons, who has graduated, transferred again last month, to The Citadel, another I-AA school. He started the opener, guiding the Bulldogs to an easy win. Hopefully, it works out for him, but sadly, such stupid rulings are common.
This week, Arkansas star offensive lineman Shawn Andrews had his eligibility restored. While at a photo shoot of preseason All-Americans in May, he took two T-shirts from a gift bag left in his hotel room. Andrews had to make reparations of $20.50.
Once again, the NCAA has lived up to its alternate acronym: No Clue, As Always.
ESPN analysts Alberts, May are perfect together
Michael Irvin has added a blast of charisma to ESPN's NFL coverage, and Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit deserve their status as the premier sources of all that is college football.
But the best pigskin analysis and interaction this fall is coming from ESPN college studio analysts Trev Alberts and Mark May.
Rarely are former sports stars - May was an All-American at Pitt, Alberts an All-American at Nebraska - as good in their second careers as their first, but these two pull it off famously.
Alberts and May are informed and insightful, and they play off of each other.
Alberts, once a fiery linebacker, is the more passionate. May, an offensive lineman who had a stellar pro career (Alberts, a first-round pick, had his cut short by injury), is more even-keeled. But May doesn't back down, and Alberts' bravado usually is supported by facts and reason.
They love to disagree, and their cogent debates are entertaining, but they're not afraid to agree, unlike other similarly paired analysts. ESPN NFL analysts John Clayton and Sean Salisbury are highly informed but sometimes seem more interested in being combative.
May and Alberts have a breadth of knowledge and opinions that span Division I-A football, and they deliver it with style.
