First, I agree with the NCAA's decision to deny Mike Williams his re-entry to play NCAA football. That being said, I have never understood how the NCAA could allow Mike Williams to regain his elligibility in light of his contract with an agent. I have never seen this angle discussed before but I am fairly certain that when a player signs with an agent that a contract is signed which obligates both parties for several years. This would have to be the case in order for an agent to negotiate on behalf of his client and for the agent to get paid according to the player's NFL contract/salary. That being the case, no matter what the NCAA dictated to the player who signed a contract with an agent it would have ZERO effect on the players contract with an agent. In other words, being that the NCAA states clearly that any player who has an agent is inelligible, Mike Williams, for example would have to prove he is no longer under contract with his agent. NCAA rules or not, there is no agent out there who is going to be willing to release Mike Williams or any player who is a sure fire 1st round pick just to please the NCAA. The agent would be taking a huge risk of losing a major payday for absolutely nothing. I have heard the talk about giving money back and all that but even the idea of giving funds back to an agent doesn't nullify the contract and there is also real doubt that the player would be receiving money from the agent after the so-called reimbursement. I just don't see how a player can ever overcome the signing with an agent unless the player went to court and had a damn good reason to nullify the contract. This is why I never thought Mike Williams would be allowed back into the NCAA for football competition. Any thoughts?
I think what doomed Mike Williams was the NCAA rule that states student athletes must complete a minimum of 24 hours of classswork in a calendar year. Mike Williams HIMSELF chose not to enroll in school for the past spring semester. His attempt to take 2 meaningless classes over the summer was fruitless and NOT going to give him the required number of classwork hours necessary to remain eligible So dont blame the NCAA for ruling Mike Williams ineligible.....Mike Williams has no one to blame but himself.
He signed the contract with his agent that was a specific clause contract stating that the agent would basically work towards getting him a contract with an NFL team, when that became impossible due to the NFL rule being upheld the contract becomes null and void I would think.
no its because he was flunking out last semester and quit, then hired an agent. he couldnt be eligible since he never completed his spring semester.
Right. Even if the NCAA had decided to ignore the agent issue and re-instated him, he would not have been academically eligible to play this year. As you said, He did not eary any credit for the spring and he needed 6 hours minimum. Of course if you listen to pete Carroll you might be inclined to think differently:
On ESPN the other night, Ron Jaworski said that the NCAA notified and warned Williams that they would appeal the original Clarrett ruling and if overturned he would not be allowed to come back. He chose to ignore that and take his chances the original ruling against the NFL would be upheld. He had fair warning, took his chances and lost. From the interview I heard with him, he's taking it like a man and I didn't detect too much whining. That is more than we can say of most USC fans.
Did he keep the money? I heard that he got $100K, and that although he fired his agent he did not return the money. Did anyone else hear this?
