NCAA enables UNC star WR Walker to play in ’23

• Pete Thamel, ESPNOct 5, 2023, 01:36 PM ET North Carolina pass receiver Tez Walker will be eligible to play in 2023 after new information emerged that the NCAA stated school authorities “stopped working to offer” previously.Walker is a transfer

  from Kent State, and his initial eligibility for the 2023 season was rejected due to the fact that he had transferred twice. His case ended up being a flashpoint for NCAA rules, in part because Walker hadn’t played during the COVID-19 season of 2020 at North Carolina Central, which did not have a season since of the pandemic.Thursday’s announcement did not specify what the brand-new info was that prompted the NCAA to reverse its decision. Walker missed out on No. 14 North Carolina’s very first four games, which the NCAA intimated in a statement might have been avoided if the university personnel had actually”submitted this info weeks earlier.”Even with Walker’s eligibility validated after months of public bickering, NCAA authorities and UNC athletic

  director Bubba Cunningham sparred openly in statements Thursday in the wake of the choice. The NCAA stated the”entire regrettable episode could have been avoided”with prompt submission of products. Cunningham responded that UNC advanced the information as it was provided and stated the NCAA”delayed making the right choice.”The school published a video to social media later Thursday that showed Tar Heels coach Mack Brown providing the news to Walker about his eligibility.The moment @DevontezWalker discovered he’s qualified #CarolinaFootball #UNCommon pic.twitter.com/DQLjUx6Dm5!.?.!— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball)October 5, 2023 Walker, widely thought about a top-50 prospect for next year’s NFL draft, transferred to North Carolina in part to play with star quarterback Drake Maye.Walker is qualified to sign up with the unbeaten Tar Heels for Saturday’s game versus Syracuse, and a source informed ESPN that he is expected to play, as he has actually been practicing with the group. His snaps are uncertain at this point.Editor’s Picks

  1 Related The 6-foot-3 wide receiver hauled in 58 receptions for 921 lawns and 11 touchdowns last season at Kent State.”I’m so excited and appreciative that the NCAA has given my eligibility to play this season

, “Walker

said in a statement. “This hasn’t been simple, however I’m anticipating putting this in the past and moving on. I constantly understood UNC was a special location, but it’s shown it over and over once again throughout the last few months. I have actually gotten a lot assistance from the University, the athletics department, my coaches, the staff and my colleagues. “In an abnormally pointed declaration, both NCAA president Charlie Baker and Georgia president Jere Morehead, the Department I board of directors chair, chastised North Carolina officials for their handling of Walker’s case.”It is unfortunate that UNC

failed to offer this important info formerly,”the NCAA said in its declaration, which is credited to both Baker and Morehead. “While we need to be careful not to compromise a student-athlete’s right to privacy when it pertains to sensitive problems, we wish to guarantee the Department I membership and everybody seeing how the brand-new transfer guidelines are applied, that this fulfills the new transfer waiver requirements.”The statement concluded: “UNC’s habits and choice to wage a public relations project is inappropriate and outside the bounds of the process UNC’s own staff supported. Had the UNC staff not behaved in this style and sent this details weeks back, this entire unfortunate episode could have been avoided

.”UNC chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a declaration:” In our mentioned effort to exhaust all avenues, brand-new info about this matter concerned our attention and we immediately collected and sent it for factor to consider. The NCAA reached the ideal decision that restores Tez’s experience as a student-athlete and a Tar Heel.”Brown, who had been overtly vital of the preliminary NCAA decision, stated in a declaration Thursday: “Whatever that’s taken place over the last few months has been with the sole purpose of helping and supporting [Walker], and now he’s going to have a chance to live his dream. We want to express our thankfulness to individuals at UNC who have actually worked tirelessly to help Tez. We never gave up. We also want to thank the NCAA for being willing to re-examine Tez’s case, and ultimately deciding to give him his eligibility.”The last previous ruling on Walker came Sept. 7, and it sparked criticism in declarations from Brown and Cunningham.Brown stated at the time that he didn’t know whether he had “ever been more dissatisfied”in a group than he was in the NCAA. He ended his statement by stating:” EMBARASSMENT ON YOU! “Cunningham called the decision” infuriating, discouraging and wrong.”That triggered an NCAA action the next week, with Morehead and another official chastising North

Carolina officials and saying they were”troubled “by the school’s reaction. The statement said”violent and potentially criminal risks “had been directed at committee members.