NCAA Recruiting Controversy: The Riley Nelson Rule?

(Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)

There is a fun loophole that was discovered, and is in this quote:

“An institution shall not contact a student-athlete who has begun service on an official church mission without obtaining permission from the institution from which the student-athlete withdrew prior to beginning his or her mission..."

Look at the bold section, now I could be wrong, but this wording makes it sound like that the athlete must be withdrawn from their school prior to their mission.

So, what if the player goes on a mission prior to enrolling, which is common, thus technically the athlete never had the chance to withdraw from said institution.  Withdrawing from a school means they must be registered for classes.

This rule I personally like, because even though defections are few and far between, but the school is confident that there will not be illegal contact.

Contacting a player under this rule without permission is similar to contacting a player from another school, while the student is there.  That would be a recruiting violation of some kind.

Again, this rule will affect few schools and athletes. And the rule goes into effect, so BYU will not be able to have contact with stud linebacker Manti Te’o if he decides to leave Notre Dame for a church mission (kidding).

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