Deion Sanders is taking aim at the NCAA again.
The NCAA elected to deny immediate eligibility to offensive lineman Tyler Brown, who followed Sanders and staff from Jackson State. While Brown had transferred once before from Louisiana to Jackson State, he cited mental health issues as his reasoning for seeking a waiver for immediate eligibility with the Colorado Buffaloes but was denied by the NCAA.
Brown transferred from Louisiana shortly after watching his position coach DJ Looney collapse on the practice field and subsequently die of a heart attack. He has faced a dearth of mental health issues over his playing career but found a staff that welcomed him with open arms and felt comfortable enough to follow them to his third school in as many years.
While Brown made his case to be exempted from the NCAA’s rule, which requires a player to sit out a year following their second transfer, it was to no avail. Sanders was not pleased, to say the least.
“It don’t make sense,” Sanders said Tuesday, via Fox News.
“Some things just don’t make sense,” Sanders added. “You say you really care about mental health, but when you have someone really dealing with mental health, there’s a problem. Then, ostracizing him and not allowing him to do what he’s blessed and gifted to do and the thing that presents him peace, that’s trying for a young man.”
While it’s unlikely that the NCAA will go back on its decision, to deny a player like Brown immediate eligibility, it shows that there should be a different standard when it comes to mental health.
“It’s like, ‘Wow, do you really care, or are you just saying you care?’” Sanders said. “Are you caring when it’s convenient? Or when it’s profitable?”
[Fox News]
