Bryce Bonnin was granted immediate eligibility today to play at Texas Tech. Typically baseball players transferring from one D1 program to another are required to sit out a year.
I was told Arkansas did not object to his request, which was bolstered by the timing of his release (late July) from the Razorbacks’ program.
Total BC! He needs to set his butt out like everybody else. They’re sitting their self up for everybody doing what he did
I didn’t realize that was an option, unless the player had graduated.
I think you have to read between the lines on this one. The NCAA will grant immediate eligibility if there is a legitimate reason to. The most common reason we hear is the sick parent/grand parent. There is likely a good portion of this story that is not public and probably never will be.
Players should be immediately eligible. Coaches get to leave and immediately begin receiving paychecks why should a player have to sit out if he/she is someplace that is not working out.
Because of the limited scholarships, etc., baseball players were immediately eligible in the past. It changed several years ago when the minimum scholarships were instituted. DVH used to award “Books” to several players, that is, the player would have his books paid for, but nothing else. Those players who came in the fall, trying to make the team, could transfer without penalty. That is no longer true.
That sounds like good reasoning until you put it in practice. A player could go to four different schools in four years. Imagine the chaos. There has been talk, at least in other sports, about the possibility of immediate eligibility depending on grade-point average. There has to be limitations.
Kids already transfer more than once…Rakeem Boyd went from DI A$M to JUCO to the Hogs I don’t see how it makes any difference. The kids that leave are very rarely the ones the coaches are relying on to produce. They are leaving because it is not a good fit. If kids transfer between DI schools more than once it is on the receiving school and the kid to decide if there is a fit or not. Transferring between DI schools more than once would be a rarity…forget the QB’s name we had came from USC, then transferred out, didn’t hurt us any, if he had been producing he probably would not have left. The arguments against sound exactly like the ones against free agency before Curt Flood. MLB has more than survived and I see no reason why DI schools would not also keep right on going. If Darius Hall wants to transfer from Depaul after his first season playing I bet the coaches and fans there would not lament it one bit because it means things did not work out.
Most sports have an exemption in which a player can transfer one time without having to sit out a year. It happens a lot in soccer, track, softball, etc. The only sports that don’t have that exemption are football, baseball and men’s and women’s basketball. It is a good rule that should be applied across all sports, in my opinion.
There are lots of reasons a baseball player can be eligible immediately. If they are walk-ons, they often get immediate eligibility. If their scholarships are cut or reduced, they can transfer with immediate eligibility. If a player is told to leave, he can get immediate eligibility. If they are on nothing but an academic scholarship, they can get immediate eligibility. I do remember Van Horn saying it was a mutual decision. So if that’s the case and Van Horn said it’s alright if you leave, they’d sign off on him playing somewhere else.
Any idea why it was mutual? He sure seemed like a live arm—got some good experience this year—another national power seems excited to have him.
Was it simply a matter of him wanting to be promised a weekend starter’s role and DVH being unwilling to do that?
This was Van Horn’s quote about Bonnin leaving:
WAS BONNIN LEAVING HIS IDEA? Probably more ours. He sees himself as a starter and we saw him as a reliever. Just up and down. In my opinion he needs to go to a junior college and they put him on the mound so he can pitch. Kind of up and down with the strike zone, a lot of things jumping around. He just needs to be ready to help his team win. He’s a guy that has a lot of talent with arm strength. Hopefully he picks the right place and has a lot of success.