Question about eligibility

[CAGASS24]

For our resident compliance folks... During ND gtown game, they just said ND isn't optimistic abromitas will be granted a sixth year; he played in only two games this year.  Otule played in what, seven?  Why the optimism for otule?  Only diff I can think of is maybe abromitas red shirted actually whereas otule would be two medical red shirts?  Thoughts?

[MUMac]

Optimism to me is that I truly believe Buzz ran this all by the proper channels before deciding on surgery.  That, IMHO, is why the delay between the injury and surgery (beyond the normal delay to quell the swelling).  May be wrong with my interpretation, but listening to the comments, it sure seems as though Buzz is positive.

[MattyWarrior]

I don't think they where talkin about abromitias

[dwaderoy2004]

They definitely were talking about abromaitis.

[Dawson Rental]

They definitely were talking about abromaitis.

That's how I heard it, too.

[dwaderoy2004]

That's how I heard it, too.

I think it has something to do with this.  Technically, Abromaitas should not have been granted a fifth year of eligibility, so why should he get a sixth?

http://notredame.247sports.com/Article/Irish-forward-Tim-Abromaitis-suspended-for-first-four-games-43815

[cheebs09]

I don't think that the reason it took so long to get word on Otule was confirmation. I thought Buzz said on his show or in an article that Otule was working on coming back, but had a setback, so they went with surgery.

[Jay Bee]

For our resident compliance folks... During ND gtown game, they just said ND isn't optimistic abromitas will be granted a sixth year; he played in only two games this year.  Otule played in what, seven?  Why the optimism for otule?  Only diff I can think of is maybe abromitas red shirted actually whereas otule would be two medical red shirts?  Thoughts?

Very simple.  Abromaitis "missed" (actually Brey and he cheated and played him in exhibition games, but...) his sophomore year due to a choice made by the team - because he sucked. 

Otule has "missed" (as defined) two years because of injury and in both years the criteria are all in line with hardship waiver criteria..

The real issue, however, is the Five-Year Waiver Rule, not medical hardship waivers.  The Five-Year Clock generally is extended only when a player has missed more than one season due to circumstances outside of the control of the player and the school.  For Chris, that is the case - he had an incapacitating injury.  For Timmy, he had one injury year, the other he didn't play simply because Brey thought he sucked too bad (although really he did play that year, by rule... an unbelievable error by Notre Dame from a compliance perspective.. just astonishing).

Sometimes kids get another year on their clock for circumstances technically within their control.. for example, when they transfer to a school close to home to be near a sick family member.  Yes, they had to sit out a transfer year because of their decision - in their control - to transfer, but the reason for the transfer (at least the school argues after eligibility is up) was an extreme or extraordinary hardship reasons (ND's Scott Martin's transfer from Purdue would be an example.. family member was sick). 

In short, Abro's circumstances do not make him a waiver candidate by rule.  It's only that the committee can consider essentially a waiver of the waiver.  For Marquette with respect Chris, his circumstances appear quite vanilla for Five-Year Rule Waivers and he should* be fine (but can't request until the five years are exhausted).

[SacWarrior]

They definitely were talking about abromaitis.

Thank you for being the first person to spell Abromaitis correctly.

[strotty]

Thank you for being the first person to spell Abromaitis correctly.

At least we haven't seen O'Tule in the thread yet.

[MUMac]

Thank you for being the first person to spell Abromaitis correctly.

Is it spelled correctly if you do not capitalize the first letter?   

[CTWarrior]

If Otule's waiver is granted, he will have played at least a few games in 6 different Marquette seasons.  That's got to be rare, right?  Probably ties a national record, because that has to be the max under any circumstances.

[chapman]

If Otule's waiver is granted, he will have played at least a few games in 6 different Marquette seasons.  That's got to be rare, right?  Probably ties a national record, because that has to be the max under any circumstances.

We might have to call him Dr. Otule by the time he is done playing.

[Brewtown Andy]

We might have to call him Dr. Otule by the time he is done playing.

Hey, if he's blocking 80-100 shots a season by then, he'll have earned it.

[jsglow]

We might have to call him Dr. Otule by the time he is done playing.

A new nickname is born . . . Dr. Defense.