Case Keenum‘s 2010 season began with high expectations, including being one of the preseason favorites for the Heisman.
Three games in, the fifth-year senior’s season came to an abrupt halt thanks to an ACL tear.
Following up on reports in October that Houston would make an appeal on Keenum’s behalf for a sixth season, the school has done just that. According to the Houston Chronicle, UH officials have filed the paperwork for an appeal with the NCAA.
NCAA rules specify that to grant a sixth year of eligibility, an athlete has to have lost two seasons for reasons out of the control of him/her and the school. Under the NCAA interpretation, a red-shirt season is not considered such a circumstance. One major chip on UH’s favor would be the ability to establish that Keenum, the leading passer in school history, took a redshirt season in 2006 because of an injury.
The paper notes that in order for Keenum to play in 2011, he would need to be in school for the spring semester; the school hopes to have an answer by Jan. 25, the deadline for Keenum to register for that semester.