quote:
Does a departure for any reason by an otherwise academically eligible player counts? Meaning that if a player simply quits the football team or school altogether and forgoes his scholarship, would that count?

My understanding is that yes, it would count. From the NCAA Q&A document:

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Question No. 8: Does the blanket waiver apply to counters who depart the institution for any reason (e.g., transfer, professional draft)?

Answer: Yes, provided the counter would have been academically eligible for competition in the ensuing regular academic term.

Emphasis on any reason. That said, the player does actually have to leave the school. Another item from the Q&A document:

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Question No. 11: Does the blanket waiver apply to a counter who quits the football team but remains enrolled at the institution?

Answer: No. That counter has not departed the institution; therefore, the blanket waiver does not apply.

If a kid quits the team but continues attending classes at LSU, he doesn’t qualify. This could relevant for players who might “opt out” mid-season, for example - whether they are in the portal or just quit football for whatever reason. As I understand it though, once a counter transfers (or quits school) they do count.

So if a player enters the portal in the middle of fall camp but continues to attend classes and doesn’t actually transfer until after the semester ends, that should qualify.

It could get complicated if a player were to quit / enter the portal / whatever and then wait a really long time to transfer. Theoretically if a player stuck around at LSU long enough to no longer be considered a “counter” towards the scholarship limits, then decided to transfer, they might not qualify for replacement. But I think this is a moot point for now since the blanket waiver is currently temporary and only applies through July 31, 2022. I believe a scholarship is a “counter” for the full academic year (barring other loopholes like “midyear replacement” that I don’t really care to get into

).

Anyhow, I digress - the reason I joked about the layers of exceptions and clarifications in the NCAA rules was that there are some weird arse eligibility conditions related to walk ons that I don’t fully understand. But AFAIK these rules are all tied to how the walk on is (or is not) counted at his new school. I don’t think it matters for the previous school whether the player receives a scholarship, enters the draft, or goes to work at Burger King as far as the signing limit waiver is concerned.

If you dig deep enough you can almost certainly find some weird and inconsistent scenarios that might apply. But given that this is (again, as of right now) a temporary waiver.. and given that we are really focused on impacts at LSU specifically, I don’t know that those scenarios are really impactful in any way.