Tennessee football: USC approach to Bru McCoy eligibility is baffling

On the surface, something nefarious seems at play. Tennessee football wide receiver Bru McCoy, who transferred from the USC Trojans, is waiting on an eligibility waiver from the NCAA. Last week, there were suspicions that USC was standing in the way.

In response, USC’s athletic department released a statement on McCoy’s eligibility, expressing their support from him. They then tweeted out that statement to make it clear that they aren’t the ones standing in the way.

Here’s the problem, though. Trey Wallace of Outkick reported his sources saying USC could have signed off on a No Participation Opportunity which would have removed the need for McCoy to seek an eligibility waiver from the NCAA anyway.

Austin Price of VolQuest added to this on Twitter by noting that USC was initially going to sign the NPO but has since backed out, leaving it up to the NCAA. He implies that they seemed to be caving to public pressure before deciding to reverse course again.

If that’s true, what’s USC’s purpose? Lincoln Riley would look wildly hypocritical for doing such a thing given the fact that upon taking the USC job, he brought Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams out west with him.

McCoy playing for Tennessee football does no harm to USC. These two are in separate conferences and almost certainly wouldn’t face each other in any meaningful bowl game given the positions they are in right now.

Not signing the NPO would actually be more likely to hurt USC long-term not just because of what it says about the program but because of the fact that McCoy could then have a year of eligibility in a season where both teams might actually face off in a meaningful postseason game. That would be crazy.

Whatever off-field issues McCoy had, it’s unfair and makes no sense for USC to not just sign the NPO. They can’t be mad about him transferring to Tennessee football when he transferred to USC from the Texas Longhorns anyway.

Simply put, none of this makes sense. That’s why it may be a bit unfair to attach nefarious motives to USC outright. There could be a procedural issue keeping them from signing the NPO, or maybe the NCAA is standing in the way of it themselves.

It’s just hard to believe that they are doing this in order to block McCoy from being able to play. If they were, then it’d be extra brazen for them to release that statement saying they support him. Most schools that do stand in the way of transfers playing never go public like that.

Still, USC’s handling of this is vague and doesn’t demonstrate a healthy level of competence. Tennessee football may be fine either way given their personnel, so the Trojans are doing more harm to themselves by not handling this.