It’s been a rather sleepy set of league-wide meetings for the SEC in their annual retreat in Destin, Florida but the conference did release some rather notable changes to their rules on Friday that will be a net positive for several players. Most notably, that includes transfers who will no longer have to sit out a season when moving from one conference school to another.
SEC grad transfers no longer must sit out a year when transferring to another league school, SEC presidents voted today. Previously, SEC required grad transfers to sit out a year when transferring to another SEC school
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 1, 2018
At the heart of the matter is Alabama offensive lineman Brandon Kennedy, who announced his transfer out of Tuscaloosa last month but has been seemingly in limbo awaiting a change to the SEC’s rules so that he could play immediately at either Tennessee or Auburn. Naturally, Nick Saban is not super happy at that possibility and has been upholding the league rules to block Kennedy from doing just that but Friday’s decision means it’s now out of the coach’s hands.
Tennessee and Auburn were the reported future destinations for former Alabama OL Brandon Kennedy. He can now transfer to either program and play in 2018. Would have needed a waiver previously. Nick Saban would not grant him one.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) June 1, 2018
Also affected by the change should be former Ole Miss wideout Van Jefferson. He made the move to Florida following NCAA sanctions being announced on the Rebels but was similarly stuck in a bit of limbo trying to be eligible right away for the Gators.
The league also passed the proposal that allows transfers from SEC programs under NCAA-mandated postseason bans to move to another program within the SEC without sitting out the year-in-residency.
— Alex Byington (@_AlexByington) June 1, 2018
The rules changes announced by the SEC are really just getting ahead of broader changes coming to the NCAA level in the coming months. Many coaches have been pushing back against a number of these ideas but it’s pretty clear by the vote coming out Destin that they’re going to be on the losing end of this battle.
That’s good news for players everywhere as they get a bit more freedom to pick where they want to play in the future.