The NCAA's rejection of Brock Hoffman's eligibility waiver was baffling. The NCAA's line of questioning leading up to the waiver rejection was indefensible and pathetic.
Brock Hoffman hails from Statesville, N.C., a small city off I-40 in central North Carolina. An offensive lineman, he began his college football career nearly four hours away at Coastal Carolina. After last season, the sophomore Hoffman transferred to Virginia Tech to help care for his ailing mother, Stephanie Hoffman, who was battling a non-cancerous brain tumor. In Blacksburg, he was about two hours away from Statesville, though still outside the NCAA's stupid 100-mile radius rule.
Hoffman requested an NCAA waiver for immediate eligibility. It was denied because, among other reasons cited by the NCAA, his mom's condition was improving, though the family provided medical documentation that she was still suffering from paralysis, hearing loss and impaired eyesight.
The appeal was denied because, in part, the NCAA didn't understand why Stephanie didn't quit her job. Seriously.
"We have almost a million dollars of medical bills,” her husband and Brock's father Brian Hoffman told The Roanoke Times. “She’s a teacher and doesn’t have enough years to get full pay from her pension. We simply couldn’t afford it.”
To recap: Brock Hoffman transferred closer to home to care for his mother who was suffering from paralysis, hearing loss and impaired eyesight, and couldn't quit her job because she had a million dollars in medical bills.
Tate Martell, meanwhile, played in Miami's season opener because Urban Meyer wasn't his coach anymore.
