UNC Football: Devontez Walker’s final appeal rejected by NCAA

Thursday saw the final appeal for Tez Walker to have his two-time waiver approved and play for UNC. The video conference happened this morning, and everyone hoped for a quick decision and common sense to finally reign.

They got one of the two.

UNC football and Mack Brown announced the results of the NCAA’s appeal Thursday afternoon, and somehow, inexplicably, it was denied.

The language in the announcement is very strong, and perhaps the harshest words uttered by Mack Brown about the NCAA. He points the finger at the inexplicable hypocrisy of the organization in their decision when on the same day, just an hour prior, the organization tweeted out a film highlighting the need for athletes to reach out and take care of their mental health. It really does appear the NCAA would rather go ahead and dare to fight out another court case and stick to process instead of dealing with people.

Bubba Cunningham, himself usually not one to say anything controversial, also had some harsh words for the NCAA

Notably both statements say they will support Tez and his family going forward, and don’t mention anything about legal action. That is the next question here, whether Tez and UNC will follow through with what was referred to at Mack’s press conference on Monday and seek the approval to have him play. If there is legal action, it’ll have to happen quickly on Friday to try to obtain a temporary injunction allowing Tez to play. There’s also a question of whether UNC can sue the NCAA or if Tez has to sue UNC for the right.

The NCAA may think this is over but it likely is just the beginning of another fight they are going lose. Either way, the public perception of the organization takes another hit to show it can sink lower. Who knows where the bottom is.