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Maurice Smith-Gate; SEC grants waiver to UGA w/ strict guidelines and penalties

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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

After reading the article on the meeting, this whole thing sounds just like the typical family at the local little league baseball or youth football park that decides to move their kid to a different park to play because they were not happy with their kid's playing time. I think we used to call that "park hopping". Heck, even the youth football league in which my son played and I coached in had rules against that behavior.
I probably wouldn't have such a negative view if it were not for the persistent push to transfer to Georgia. Could it be because he has been promised a sure starting position by a former defensive coordinator or position coach? It sure sounds like being a starter is really important to the family. I hate it for Smith because it sounds like he did not intend to stir up anything like this, but sometimes other folks can get involved when you simply express a frustration and cause things to get out of hand.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

LA4Bama said:
I find this rule confusing, but from what i read, in the graduate transfer rule it makes it clear that the condition for being allowed to transfer is having the scholarship canceled. In other words, saban has not canceled his scholarship. If coach did cancel it, that would constitute the release. So basically the scholarship is intact until MS actually transfers to a place Saban approves of, and the scholarship is canceled after the deal us done. I might be wrong but that's how I read the rule.
Click to expand...

From Post #280 above:

"His scholarship is renewable every year, and he didn't sign any paperwork to renew it."

Anyone "in the know" care to comment? Thanks.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

Matt0424 said:
Okay, I'll try and answer this all at once.

He is no longer obligated to Alabama. His scholarship is renewable every year, and he didn't sign any paperwork to renew it. He is free to leave and go to school anywhere he likes.

To play football at another SEC school he has to complete 2 semesters of school before becoming eligible. The only way around that is to get a release from your current school to play immediately. The rule is for any transfer within conference, and has been that way for years. The graduate transfer rules do not supersede the SEC rule.

Now, he is a senior. That means he only has one year of eligibility remaining. AFAIK he still has a redshirt year that could technically be used to keep his eligibility and be able to play next year. If there are some weird rules regarding transfers, I have yet to find them.

So he has 4 choices.

1. Just forget it and stay.

2. Go to UGA and sit out a year, using his RS to retain eligibility and play in 2017.

3. Go to Miami as he should have anyway.

4. Quit college football and prepare for the draft next year.

The longer this goes, the worse it is for everyone involved.

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I'm pretty sure #1 is not an option.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

Where are all the people that were supporting Coach Smart in this? All of a sudden they seem kind of quiet.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

If Coach Saban gives in on this it can start a bad precedent for the future. It is hypocritical for Kirby Smart to support this when he refused to let players transfer to Miami to continue playing for Mark Richt.

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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

Far be it for me to quote a New England poet, but Robert Frost offered a comment apropos: “good fences make good neighbors.”
In this case, rules exist so everybody knows which side of the rules they are on.
 
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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

Ok, I read the story on al.com and you mean to tell me this all started with his mother putting her two cents in?

My goodness, really? He wasn't even thinking about transferring. She sounds like the woman from Miami. Sad. Plain sad.


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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

I'll say this with a final thought on this sad situation. His mother played this one real bad and it blew up in everyone's face. In a way, Smith deserved to get chewed out by Coach Saban about the whole thing playing out and Saban even manned up to him and apologized for how he was handling this. I think he took it out on Maurice Smith, but it was really directed at his parents. He wanted Smith to grow up and make his own decisions, and not let his parent influencing every decisions he makes. I think his mother "encouraged" him to transfer to Georgia, because of Smart and He couldnt say no to his mother. Everyone got dragged into this mess and Here's where I lost respect for Maurice: The moment his parent took it to the media and aired their drama in front of everyone and thus causing his reptuation to take a hit as a player. Not one single school will take him after they saw how his mom acted and how she handled this. Nobody has time for that. If he wants to play so bad for Georgia, then walk on as a player, and pay his own way and everyone wins. He can afford to take on almost 10k in loans for one year. Another option is to transfer to Miami or any other schools. Third option: Drop down to lower level and play for Jacksonville State, somewhere. He and his parent doesn't realize they lost the battle, and just making it worse for them. End it while they still can. I pray that his family and friends read this post and see that they screwed up royally and there's no going back and fix it.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

Even if he were ultimately granted a release to uga he still has to find a spot on that time. I am pretty sure the guys on that team who stayed and are trying to impress their new coaches are not all that excited about a guy wanting to transfer to their team with the clear expectation of starting for a coach he is already familiar with when he couldn't be a regular starter on his old team.

When you look at it from this point, you see immature decisions being made by smith, kirby, and or tucker to allow this thing to play out this way. The only that Saban will suffer is some bad press until the season starts then maybe some negative recruiting in the winter. But kirby has already put the culture of his team at risk by the mere threat of smith transferring in because all other teammates will think he was promised something.

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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

claudehadleyjr said:
If Coach Saban gives in on this it can start a bad precedent for the future. It is hypocritical for Kirby Smart to support this when he refused to let players transfer to Miami to continue playing for Mark Richt.

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Click to expand...

Absolutely spot on!!! :cool2:
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

JDCrimson said:
Even if he were ultimately granted a release to uga he still has to find a spot on that time. I am pretty sure the guys on that team who stayed and are trying to impress their new coaches are not all that excited about a guy wanting to transfer to their team with the clear expectation of starting for a coach he is already familiar with when he couldn't be a regular starter on his old team.

When you look at it from this point, you see immature decisions being made by smith, kirby, and or tucker to allow this thing to play out this way. The only that Saban will suffer is some bad press until the season starts then maybe some negative recruiting in the winter. But kirby has already put the culture of his team at risk by the mere threat of smith transferring in because all other teammates will think he was promised something.

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Maurice was our starting Safety this past spring. No reason he couldn't immediately start over at UGA having already mastered Saban's Defense...:cool2:

Smith should just get his butt out on the field in Tuscaloosa and position himself for the draft. :rolleyes:
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

NoNC4Tubs said:
Maurice was our starting Safety this past spring. No reason he couldn't immediately start over at UGA having already mastered Saban's Defense...:cool2:

Smith should just get his butt out on the field in Tuscaloosa and position himself for the draft. :rolleyes:
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You really think he's got a spot at this point, or that the team leaders would want him back in the locker room. With all that's happened now, hes got to leave Tuscaloosa.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

JustNeedMe81 said:
Not one single school will take him after they saw how his mom acted and how she handled this.
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Exactly. If you invite this guy into your program, you will do it knowing the next time he does not get what he wants - position, playing time, reps in practice, or whatever, he (and his mother) will be in the head coach's office, telling him what to do.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

crimsonaudio said:
I'm still here. Why?
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I saw where you quoted Kirby's response on his position on transfers to Miami. Did you see his comments in regard to the Maurice Smith transfer?

From al.com article:
"I can't speak much about the Mo situation because he's a recruited, prospective student-athlete," Smart said. "... But as far as the graduate transfer deal, I think every young man that we bring here to the University of Georgia, we want them to graduate from this place. And if they have an opportunity to go to graduate school at another place, I certainly think that's going to be something that we let them do."

Even if that player wants to go to another SEC school?

"Absolutely," Smart said.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

MS TN NC Tidefan said:
I saw where you quoted Kirby's response on his position on transfers to Miami. Did you see his comments in regard to the Maurice Smith transfer?

From al.com article:
"I can't speak much about the Mo situation because he's a recruited, prospective student-athlete," Smart said. "... But as far as the graduate transfer deal, I think every young man that we bring here to the University of Georgia, we want them to graduate from this place. And if they have an opportunity to go to graduate school at another place, I certainly think that's going to be something that we let them do."

Even if that player wants to go to another SEC school?

"Absolutely," Smart said.
Click to expand...

As I saw someone say yesterday, UGA's current players and SEC coaches all smiled when Kirby said that. He just set himself up.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

A sports radio station (104.5) in Nashville is getting ready to interview Maurice Smith... This is ridiculous

I'm hoping he's announcing his retirement


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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

I'm a "Follow-the-Rules-kind-of-Guy." Whatever rules are in place when one "signs up" for something should be honored. That, plus my respect for CNS has firmly placed me on the side of this issue that thinks Maurice cannot / should not go to Georgia.

But one element of this issue has not been discussed, or more correctly, I have not seen it discussed anywhere.....If a Student-Athlete graduates and wants to transfer to another university that is renown for a particular graduate program, and that particular graduate program aligns with the Student-Athlete's education / career goals, the Student-Athlete should be given serious consideration for an exception to the SEC rule of transferring within the conference. In spite of how I'm naturally wired, I could support this as it emphasizes the "Student" portion of the Student-Athlete. OTOH, if no such graduate program exists at the targeted university, or if the transfer is strictly about athletics, you gotta follow the rules, or chaos reigns.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring; Alabama will not grant release to UGA

ccc2259 said:
I'm a "Follow-the-Rules-kind-of-Guy." Whatever rules are in place when one "signs up" for something should be honored. That, plus my respect for CNS has firmly placed me on the side of this issue that thinks Maurice cannot / should not go to Georgia.

But one element of this issue has not been discussed, or more correctly, I have not seen it discussed anywhere.....If a Student-Athlete graduates and wants to transfer to another university that is renown for a particular graduate program, and that particular graduate program aligns with the Student-Athlete's education / career goals, the Student-Athlete should be given serious consideration for an exception to the SEC rule of transferring within the conference. In spite of how I'm naturally wired, I could support this as it emphasizes the "Student" portion of the Student-Athlete. OTOH, if no such graduate program exists at the targeted university, or if the transfer is strictly about athletics, you gotta follow the rules, or chaos reigns.
Click to expand...

I see what you are saying, but I think in this case Smith made it very clear he was only leaving because he wasn't getting along with someone at Bama. He had to cram the classes in this summer to graduate so he's not really going the grad school route because he has a specific degree in mind. If it was just about going to get the degree, he wouldn't even have to do a grad transfer. He could follow normal SEC rules, transfer to UGA as an undergrad, redshirt this year and finish the undergrad work, and then enter grad school and play in 2017
 
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