Cruz done at Pitt

[Crimson09Crazy]

Check the Post gazette for updates but Delvon Simmons from McKeesport just signed with UNC but got released because his position coach left.

[El-Moldo]

Cruz is done for a year if he goes to another DI school. However he can go down the ladder and play right away. A good choice would be I-aa, such as Delaware, Villanova, William and Mary, Youngstown State, etc. Division I-aa is good football.

[CRWizard]

Another loophole is if he graduated from Pitt, he could go to grad school somewhere else and play and not lose a year eligibilty. There's a guy on the Steelers roster, who played three years at Michigan, Graduated, then played ball at WVU. i also think it has something to do with not having a graduate degree program that you want at your orginal school. I think it was Mundy

[Crimson09Crazy]

Yep thats exactly right. Ryan Mundy Woodland Hills grad. Greg Paulus a 4 year Point Guard at Duke, then started a year of Football at Syracuse?

[El-Moldo]

The rule Mundy used was: If you have been at a school for 4 years ( one redshirt year and 3 other years ) and you have graduated from college, you can go anywhere to graduate school for your red-shirt senior year, AS LONG AS YOUR NEW SCHOOL HAS A PROGRAM THAT YOUR PREVIOUS SCHOOL DIDN'T OFFER. So if you were a biology major and you graduated from Toledo after your redshirt junior year, you could transfer to and play for Pitt as a red-shirt senior if Pitt has a genetics graduate program that Toledo doesn't offer. If Toledo has the same genetics graduate program, you can't leave Toledo for Pitt. It's almost like public schoolo athletes transferring to McCort for their senior year for academics, but play football too, for one year.

[lakersfan24]

If the NCAA would grant him a transfer to another D1 school, from what I understand, the Pitt coach would have to let him out of the current scholarship at Pitt. Even though he would not still be granted the money, Cruz signed a contract to the school/program, and the coach would still have to do that. PSU's freshman qb tried to transfer, but was not let out of his scholarship by Jay Paterno. Any of these situations can be taken to the NCAA on a individual basis, but precedent is usually what they go by. Another reason for transfers being allowed to play right away is if the school receives some sort of punishment. Many USC players were given 'free' transfers because of the sanctions against the program. At the rate PITT is going criminally, I wouldn't be surprised if something surfaced at that end of the spectrum.

As for Cruz, I expect him to be back on the Pitt roster, or at a PSAC school in the fall. His older brother actually played for 3 different D1-D1aa teams (Akron or Toledo?, Hofstra, Syracuse). Transfered down from the 1st to Hofstra, played right away. Hofstra dropped their program, and played his final year of eligibility at D1 Syracuse this past season once again without sitting out. Looks like the family is well educated in transfering

[El-Moldo]

I really don't think it's that easy to transfer from one DI program and play for another DI program the next year.The NCAA doesn't go for transferring from one DI team to another and playing right away. I don't believe Graham would say to Cruz, "You are released from our program. Go ahead and go anywhere you want" and the NCAA would agree to him playing for another DI team without a one year penalty.

[lakersfan24]

Moldo, I agree with you. What I was saying was if a coach does not let a kid out of his scholarship, he can't even accept a scholarship at another school. Even if he's let out, he still must sit out a year at another D1 school. What I was saying is it adds to the difficulty of transferring.

[kmr]

This past year look at Qb from Oregon Masoli

[steelcurtain75]

Its a shame to see Cruz leave he played pretty well this year. He should have just took his punishment like a man and stuck with it.....