Ray Tanner’s thoughts on the NCAA’s transfer waiver process as USC waits on Muse news
South Carolina football is in limbo for the moment, as it waits to find out about the status of William & Mary tight end Nick Muse. He’s submitted paperwork to the NCAA to play in 2019, but days before the season begins, there’s no clarity.
During a monthly appearance on 107.5 The Game, Gamecocks athletics director Ray Tanner was asked about that process, which has at times been inconsistent and this week denied former Coastal Carolina player Brock Hoffman the chance to play this year at Virginia Tech.
“I don’t like being critical in any capacity, whether it’s on the radio or in the office,” Tanner said. “But when you do a waiver, and the decision gets handed down by the NCAA, they do not share with you the information on how they came up with the decision, they just reveal the answer.
“With our young man, we have no idea.”
Tanner didn’t go into detail on Muse’s case, but did say he would have allowed Hoffman to play this year. He noted he’s not even sure if he and the team will know the resolution of Muse’s case by the time the season kicks off Saturday. Last year, defensive tackle Josh Belk’s waiver came through two days before the opener.
He went on to detail he felt players should sit in most cases, but that if there’s a good reason for a waiver, that process should be more transparent.
“I’m OK with you giving them the year back on the back end, but they should sit out either way,” Tanner said. “I’m not saying it’s 100 percent. ... There may be reason that you do grant that.
“I think you have to go into it as a student-athlete assuming you’re going to sit.”
Schedule plans
Tanner said he felt home-and-home non-conference series might be making a come back on the college landscape.
The Gamecocks’ recent arrangement involves a neutral site game every year they play at Clemson and three smaller opponents on years they go to Death Valley. But it seems games between bigger programs in home stadiums are starting to gain momentum after the rise of neutral site games.
“The home-and-homes are really becoming prevalent,” Tanner said. “The guarantees that you pay an FCS or FBS school, they’re sky high right now.”
USC has a 2023 game scheduled for Charlotte, where the Gamecocks opened 2015, 2017 and will open this season. Tanner also mentioned a game in Atlanta as something the team is looking at.
The Gamecocks AD was also presented with a list of regional teams that could have home-and-home potential. Beyond UNC and North Carolina State, it included, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Georgia Tech.
And Tanner at least acknowledged some of those teams could be on USC’s own list.
“I would not deny that there’s been conversations with some of the teams on the list you just gave out,” Tanner said. “Which ones and how we’d do it, I’ll stop.”
Williams-Brice update
The school has big plans for changing Williams-Brice Stadium set to start at the end of the 2019 season.
Tanner said one factor he was excited about was changes to the east side of the stadium what will open things up, preventing one concourse from getting too congested. That also could mean a small dip in capacity.
“Only slightly,” Tanner said. “It’s only 200 or 300. It’s not significant.”
He also mentioned questions about concessions when it came to the choice to not sell beer at Williams-Brice this season.
“Our concession points of sale are really low,” Tanner said. “As they are at a lot of college stadiums as compared to NFL stadiums. We’ve got to do some logistical upgrades to be able to accommodate the demand that you’ll have.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Ray Tanner’s thoughts on the NCAA’s transfer waiver process as USC waits on Muse news."