Brown: Tez Walker 'should be considered a one-time transfer'

Uh Walker was uh we're trying to secure his immediate

eligibility

Um he's a two time transfer

We submitted the waiver and the waiver was denied and

uh we filed an appeal

We're waiting to hear back under the rules when uh

when transferred um he was enrolled but he met the

criteria for a transfer to be um automatically eligible

On January 9th

He transferred on January 11th

They changed the rule and said it was going to

be more difficult for two time transfers to be eligible

He enrolled in classes he enrolled in classes in January

9th and then the um NCAA changed the rule

January 11th

The NCAA indicated approval of his waiver at that time

but that was before the change of the waiver directive

Taz has only played football at one school and should

be considered a first time transfer

He went to East Tennessee State and hurt his knee

and he didn't go to school there

He signed with them

So when he hurt his knee they made him a

gray shirt and they deferred his um enrollment back

So he didn't get to play at East Tennessee State

So then he enrolled at uh Un uh North Carolina

Central when he enrolled at North Carolina Central

They canceled football season in the fall because of COVID

He stayed for the spring

They canceled uh football for the spring because of COVID

So then he transferred because he wasn't going to get

to play because he set out a full year

So here he is he's already missed two years and

hasn't played any and he goes to Kent State and

he plays there for two years and his head coach

his offensive coordinator and his wide receiver coach left and

then he felt like he would have the the one

time transfer to to get here

Uh and he was coming back here to be closer

to home because North Carolina was his dream school but

also his grandmother had never seen him play and she

was not healthy and she couldn't go to Kent State

to see him play

And now we're opening up in Charlotte that'll be the

first time she'll be able to see him play and

and she basically was um very very important in raising

him and and it's very important in his life that

she see him play and and we've got what eight

games in the state of North Carolina

So she's going to see a lot of games uh

that that she couldn't uh Kent State fully supports him

being eligible

Um it's which is a major factor in the eligibility

of the new directive

They understand and want him to be eligible

They have written a letter uh about his eligibility his

reasons for transferring

Like I said it's closer to home be closer to

his grandmother who is dealing with with bad health issues

Um we've even got to look at how we can

help her where she would sit and how she would

get into the stadium uh when she comes here and

she was a huge role in his upbringing um health

issues she just can't travel

So Adams to consider uh Tez has only played football

at one school due to the circumstances that were out

of his control

So it's not like he is a normal two time

transfer

He's played at one school uh and he transferred uh

his first enrollment was deferred because he got hurt

Secondly they canceled the season fall and spring

So he wasn't going to be able to play and

that's why he transferred

He's not one of these kids that's transferring every year

to to get to a different place in his life

Um And uh and he transferred to get closer to

home because of his grandmother and that's really really important

to him

Um he's followed all the rules and then the rules

were changed and and we feel very very good moving

forward that the NCAA will look at this and understand

this isn't a normal case of a double transfer

And um and and they will go ahead and accept

the appeal and let him be able to play when

we open up for the season

Uh mental health is huge and and uh all kids'

lives he's really struggling and and that's why we're we're

coming out and saying this he's uh he's been down

uh here he is

He he he made a decision based on what was

best for him that he thought was within the rules

and for his grandmother and his family

And now we're sitting here four weeks from game time

and and um just waiting to see if he's gonna

play

So he has to practice every day not knowing if

he's even gonna have an opportunity to play

So when we look at what transfer rules are far

and we look at the the best for mental health

there's absolutely no doubt that that this is uh a

mental health issue for for Tez because it's putting way

too much pressure on him

And uh it's a and that's a major talking point

for Charlie Baker uh the new NCAA director which I'm

hearing great things about

Uh but we're asking them to look at this

Uh So he sat out in 2019 because of an

AC L

He sat out in 2020 uh because of COVID

Um then he went to Kent State for two years

He had a 37 GPA and this spring he had

a 3.0 GPA

So he's done everything right

He's done it within the rules

Um when the waiver was denied we know that there's

uh at one time a lot of people were just

across the board uh being given eligibility with transfers

Now it's different

They're they're trying to be really tight on it but

this is an example we feel like that that fits

the transfer rule perfectly and um we're we're just reaching

out to to try to help Tess