On Saturday afternoon, one day after the NCAA announced penalties for Ole Miss for a host off-the-field improprieties, Antonio Morales of the Clarion Ledger reported that Rebels' starting quarterback Shea Patterson "has been granted permission to explore a transfer."
How noble and generous of them.
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The Ole Miss coaching staff committed violations, lied to recruits about the rule-breaking and potential penalties, and their head coach resigned for breaking a morality clause in his contract. And yet — after a three-year bowl ban (2017 was self-imposed; 2018 and 2019 through NCAA penalties) — they believe for whatever asinine reason that they own Shea Patterson and other players who wish to transfer from a program built on lies.
While Patterson, a former five-star recruit from Shreveport, La., who played at IMG Academy in Florida, was so kindly granted permission to seek transfer options, Ole Miss said he cannot transfer to 19 FBS programs. He may transfer to any SEC school plus any school the Rebels are scheduled to play in 2018 and 2019. It's unlikely Patterson would even be interested in many schools in the latter group (Texas Tech, Kent State, UL-Monroe, Memphis, Cal and New Mexico State), but that's irrelevant. If he wants to transfer close to home and play for UL-Monroe, Ole Miss has no right to stop that.
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If the NCAA were a competent, functioning organization that really cared about the well-being of student-athletes, they would disallow schools from restricting transfer destinations. If Ole Miss had learned anything from their years of violations, they would wish Patterson the best and allow to transfer anywhere.
Those are gigantic "ifs."
