The University of Tennessee plans to file two waivers on behalf of former Florida State freshman All-American tight end Brandon Warren, one of which could result in immediate eligibility for the 2008 season.
Warren, who begins classes at UT on Monday, needs the NCAA to approve a pair of hardship waivers - one to allow him to receive financial aid and another to regain his eligibility after leaving Florida State early in his second semester there last year.
An NCAA ruling on Warren's appeals is expected this summer. In the meantime, however, he is allowed to work out and practice with the team.
"I try to be optimistic, but I'm cautiously optimistic," said Warren's mother, Deirdre. "I don't want to think about it really."
At issue is Warren's failure to complete the NCAA's year-in-residency requirement.
Warren left Florida State in February 2007 shortly after completing his freshman season in order to be closer to his mother, who had a cancerous kidney removed in 2005 and has since suffered complications from the operation.
"When I would come in and out of state, I could tell," Warren told Blount Today last year in his only public comments since returning to Alcoa, where he earned Class 2A Mr. Football honors in 2005. "She'd be lying on the couch. She was losing weight. She looked sick. I could tell."
But by leaving FSU mid-semester, he did not maintain his status as full-time student for two semesters and also did not make sufficient progress toward his degree as required by the NCAA. Since leaving FSU, Warren has taken classes at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.
His mother's illness, as well as financial hardship, is the basis for both appeals.
Those factors already helped grant Warren's release from his National Letter of Intent.
A panel of commissioners from various conferences and NCAA representatives released Warren from his LOI in November, after Florida State denied his initial request and a three-person faculty committee at FSU denied his appeal.
UT men's basketball player Tyler Smith also won an NCAA appeal for immediate eligibility last summer after transferring from Iowa to be closer to his ailing father in McMinnville.
The circumstances of Smith's appeal, however, were different in that Iowa went through a coaching change and also released Smith from his scholarship.
Still, Smith's success gives Deirdre Warren hope for her son's appeal.
"It does," she said. "Even when (Iowa) released Tyler, it gave us a sense of hope. Restoring that year back, that was encouraging. I think we have a pretty good shot at it, but I don't want to put it out on a limb right now."
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
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Comments » 62
gohawks1 writes:
The guy's mother is very ill and FSU representatives denied his request for release twice. That's cold hearted.....
gohawks1 writes:
TDTN - Yep. Here's hoping that the NCAA will be more compassionate.
Orangebrewbasher writes:
Has FSU ever shown any class?
thesavageorange writes:
It also says something about Warren's ability.If he wasn't a star in the making papa Bowden would have patted his rear and said ,good luck kid.
BleedingOrange writes:
We don't really need a tight end. convert him to a defensive end
invisiblekid writes:
Ditto Savage O.
tennisvol writes:
Shame on Florida State and Bobby Bowden!
philfan writes:
Coldhearted is right. I cannot imagine Fulmer denying a request for such an extreme and unfortunate set of circumstances. I lost my mother about ten years ago, and it was a very sad situation. People remember these things, and it will hurt FSU and help UT, in the long run.
miamiVOL writes:
good to hear, I am sure Clawson will be able to get the ball in this playmakers hands, i hope
ncvol writes:
Best of luck to Warren on the appeal. I hope things work out for him to be at UT.
CoverOrange writes:
This should be perfunctory. Sit out a year, make the grades to be admitted. Boom, done deal. Isn't the taking and passing the classes what's important? Is the NCAA a Star Chamber?
99gator writes:
savage
5:50 pm post is right on the money.
in addition, guess what story about florida state urban meyer is telling on the recruiting trail. that story really goes over well with mama.
cjraney writes:
Hoping for the best for Mr. Warren and his family.
LiveFaith writes:
Hope Warren gets to play this year for the Vols sake and that of his family. But, the NCAA should make changing schools a "torturous path".
Remember, Brandon Warren shunned UT and freely chose to COMMIT himself to FSU. Commitments should still mean something these days. Going 10 hours away to Tallahassee should be part of the consideration from the beginning. It's not FSUs fault. They kept their word in all this.
raynochonspeed#212632 writes:
LiveFaith, the idea of commitment in college football means less these days because of coaches.
When the Sabans and Petrinos suffer no penalty for defecting to other schools, leaving kids to whom they've made promises, these 18-year-olds should actually be allowed to transfer more easily, especially in situations such as Warren's.
cwisenhower#637741 writes:
foreverorange posted:
"Has FSU ever shown any class?"
Yeah. January 4th, 1999. Go Vols.
piledriver writes:
Besides. We don't even play FSU that I can tell? So why is it any skin off their backs? Other than vengeance for daring to leave 'em.
ctownvol writes:
The greatest group of all has a little something to say to Saint Bobby and the NCAA! Just give it a listen...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=z-1UvttlXGc
seaplane#216536 writes:
My son in law was on the FSU coaching staff during Warren's first year. He said he was the best player on the team even as a freshman. He said he was a quick learn and very coachable. We need him right now.
auttat writes:
"LiveFaith, the idea of commitment in college football means less these days because of coaches."
Funny statement, because the one that is committed to UT couldn't get run out of town soon enough by some. Loyalty works both ways.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Best of luck to this young man on life's winding road.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Best of luck to this young man on life's winding road.
beachvol1 writes:
Anybody have a website to FSU, so I can blast Bowden for being so sorry as to not let this kid go on with his life...
andefromtn#212139 writes:
It does look bad on Coach Bowdon, and FSU not to release this kid. He appears to had had valid reasons for leaving school at FSU. This does not sound like the same coach who stepped up to help Marshall rebuild in 1968 after the plane crash. Perhaps winning and money is more important to Bobby B. now.
tigervol9802 writes:
Question to everyone bashing Bowden -
Move his mother to Birmingham, and if he wanted to transfer from FSU to Bama, how many of you would care?
Probably none of you. My guess is most posters could care less about him or his mom and only want him here to play football.
Personally, I would love to hear what most of you would have had to say about Tyler Smith if he would have transferred to Vandy instead of UT. Pathetic.
Pullingguard writes:
Bottome line the young man made a mistake, choose the wrong University and this reinforces the SEC not upholding the early signing date. Young men must make a good decision at the start or they will have problems as Brandon Warren has faced and still facing. Wish him well for the future, but doubt seriously that he will gain a favorable ruling from the NCAA on his eligibility for the 2008 season.
TommyJack writes:
99gator: IMO, all of FSU's problems are self-induced. Need to clean house. I'm sure you're loving it!
txsvol#372416 writes:
Kingsport, If we add DeMo's ***** & Gerald Williams' and Brandon Warren's **** to our 2.94 as calculated by scout, we'd be 11th in 2008, not 35th. That was a statistical abberation. Glad to make this point for the umpteenth time. Go Vols! SAVol
mloaks#222092 writes:
iowa letting tyler smith come her to be with dad was more like it.
Vol13 writes:
How about some of you blaming the real reason for all of this - Brandon Warren. His mother was sick back in 2005 was being recruited by FSU. He signed in Feb. 2006 and played that fall. He knew all of this BEFORE he ever left Alcoa the first time. As I recall, he was smug with UT back during the initial process and the "homeboy" didn't really give us any consideration.
I feel sorry for his mother being ill. But the reality is that this was the case in 2005, as it is in 2008. If it was such a big deal then, why didn't he stay close to home? I hope this all works out for him. But it's his own fault.
Rules are rules and are in place to prevent every 18 year old in the nation from doing stuff like this annually. It's not going to help Brandon's cause that he just up and dropped out of school with a 1 year timeframe.
Vol13 writes:
"Kingsport, If we add DeMo's ***** & Gerald Williams' and Brandon Warren's **** to our 2.94 as calculated by scout, we'd be 11th in 2008, not 35th. That was a statistical abberation. Glad to make this point for the umpteenth time. Go Vols!"
Then to be fair - go back to the classes where Morley and Williams originally signed and deduct them from those rankings. Can't have it both ways. I'm sure that would drop UT's ranking down the charts in those years. And Williams has counted about 20 times.
The fact is that our recruiting stinks vs. what it was a few year's ago. Using smoke and mirrors to try and make it look better than what it really is will come crashing down like a house of cards. We're signing a lot more 3*'s that what we used to. And we're battling VCU, MTSU, etc. for some of those.
Florida, Georgia, LSU all recruit in the Top 5 to Top 10 each year. Add Bama to that list going forward. That's what's more important than where we rank once you add in a bunch of re-treads to the class.
douglasawilliams#582863 writes:
Hope he wins his appeal. We need more pressure on the quarterback so I would like him to play DE if the staff feels he could be a difference maker. The only way you beat great teams like Florida is to create havoc in the back field and get some turnovers. That Tebow is hard to put down but some hard sacks will make him think twice about holding the football very long. Last year they knew we couldn't generate any pressure and threw a bomb on their own 1 yard line completing a 50 yard pass!!!
chrslyp writes:
Vol13:
First, the kid has been a huge FSU fan since he was a kid, so of course he's going to strongly consider going to tallahassee if they recruit him, and from my sources, it was a really hard decision between fsu and ut, but, his dream was to play for fsu.
second, his mother was sick back then, but conditions worsen, and i'm sure he didn't anticipate by how much.
put yourself in his shoes and i bet you do the same thing, hell, i know i would have. is this partially his fault, of course, but to blast him and call him a "homeboy" is out of line, especially since i doubt you know him personally.
TommyJack writes:
douglasawilliams: Please say you're kidding.
chrslyp: Whatsamatter with Homey? He IS a local kid, is he not?
BigO4Vols writes:
i love the guy and what he did at fsu but look what just happened to the most recent fsu transfer we got-K O'Neal. didn't pan out too well! Best of luck to him and his family! GO VOLS!!!
orangebloodgmc writes:
Here's what some ucla fans are saying ...
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=12#s=1...
(sorry to jack a thread, but we have no way to start a fresh one).
Vol13 writes:
chrslyp:
When I was 18, I got my HS sweetheart pregnant. It was my fault and I was effectively an adult. So I went to work, got married, and did the right thing. I eventually was stable enough to get my degree and better myself. I now own my own business some 25 years later and we have a good family life. Our oldest will be getting his MBA from UT in August.
Warren knew what he was doing. He's asking for a mulligan now though. The right thing to do would be for him to be a man and take responsibility for his actions. Sit out until he is fully eligible and see to his mother. Then come back and play in 2009. I'm not opposed to him appealing. And I hope he wins for his sake. But ultimately he is at fault for getting himself into this situation.
As for homeboy - you are hilarious. I won't even comment further.
chrslyp writes:
Vol13:
How is he not being a man and taking responsibility for his actions? From what i can tell, he's doing exactly what he should be. If i had to guess, it's UT who is pressing the matter to get him eligible for this year more than he is.
As for homeboy - you are hilarious. You obviously have never met, or spoken to the kid. I have. Instead of calling him a homeboy, just call him what you really mean, a thug.
chrslyp writes:
p.s. just a friendly note, congrats to yourself and your son. I can't judge nor comment to your situation, for i have never been in those shoes.
Vol13 writes:
Thanks. LOL!!! I don't think he is a thug. I don't know where you got that. I said homeboy because he is a local kid.
My initial post is that he's responsible for where he is today and I stand by that. But some lessons in life are best learned by making the wrongs ones first.
chrslyp writes:
my apologies, i took your homeboy wrongly, if that's what you meant, then absolutely he's a homeboy. i'm from alcoa too, so technically, i guess i'm a homeboy. haha.
auttat writes:
"Warren knew what he was doing. He's asking for a mulligan now though. The right thing to do would be for him to be a man and take responsibility for his actions."
The NCAA has a provision to accommodate the situation that Warren is in. He is appealing under the circumstances that the NCAA has deemed fit to lax it's judgment. Not sure how you can tell a person to "man-up" when he made the decision to come home and take care of his mother. He could have handled the situation a little better, but it's not like he impregnated an 18 yr. old girl or anything.
See what I just did, I past judgment on someone I have the slightest knowledge of.
auttat writes:
Before you go off the deep-end Vol13, and after reading your posts, you don't seem to far from the cliff, I applaud you for making the decision to give the child a father. Many would have made a different decision. And, your situation could happen to anyone, myself included.
chrslyp writes:
i'm still confused, if he's already sat out a year, why would he not be eligible to play this year? all because he left after one semester?
bricker865 writes:
DCflorida..that was pretty cool. Wish there was a clip (like live TV) that showed it better but it was still nice.
Vol13 writes:
auttat:
I guess I am just sick of people in life messing up and then wanting a do-over to fix it or saying it's not their fault. That is all. I agree that he should have handled this differently. There may be more to the FSU departure than we all know.
Thanks for the well-wishes.
99gator writes:
tommyjack @ 10:13
the evil empire is crumbling. the funny thing is they don't know how many years away they are from truly getting back to relevance. they think they are a year or two away.
it will take a minimum of three years....after bowden is gone.
TommyJack writes:
99: True. Good for you. Bad for others. I think the "coach in waiting" theory is stupid too.
murrayvol writes:
Life is chocked full of choices. Some work out and some don't.
How many regulars on this board could've run the mindnumbing/smoke blowing recruiting gauntlet these 18 year olds endure and make a good one?
I hope this works out for him (and UT) and he goes on to have a great life full of good choices.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
murrayvol-7:31- I can identify with the mind-numbing and smoke-blowing, but don't remember it being a guantlet but more like Nehru jackets, long hair, etc.
Oh, excuse me , you were referring to recruiting.
Just a geezer moment.
Finally got to Books That Cost A Million and read Lindy's and Athlon. Don't recomend them for
koolade drinkers and sunshine-blowers. One I believe is picking us 17th and the other 24th. We're almost even with Fresno State in one.
To Dawg-haters, one picked Moreno as the best RB in America and said Dawgs are loaded on D.
Who knows, we'll see.
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