The NCAA Has Dropped the Ball for South Carolina's Rahsul Faison

The NCAA has dropped the ball by holding off on the ruling for South Carolina's Rahsul Faison.

The South Carolina Gamecocks are still waiting for a ruling on a request for an extra year of eligibility for running back Rahsul Faison. There was a thought that a ruling would occur on Wednesday, but not news came out, which means the Gamecocks and Faison are still waiting with almost 50 days left until kickoff.

The NCAA has had an opportunity to provide a final say in this request dating back to the early parts of spring football. Head coach Shane Beamer mentioned the program had provided everything the NCAA needed and even provided more information when the NCAA requested such.

As a result, Faison has had to go through this offseason with both the expectation that he will be playing for the Gamecocks while also keeping the door open for him to potentially make a jump to the NFL, despite it being late in the process. It's both a disservice to the athlete and the university for the NCAA to take this long to make a decision on the ruling.

It is worth noting that the NCAA has had their hands full as they just recently came to a settlement for the House vs NCAA lawsuit. However, they have also provided multiple decisions on other atheltes requesting for an extra year of eligibility. Tennessee's Zakai Zeigler was denied, Tennessee's Alberto Osuna was denied and Georgia's Dylan Goldstein was also denied his request as well. These have all happened since South Carolina filed their request for Faison.

Perhaps it's a good thing that the NCAA is taking their time as it might mean they are heavily considering approving Faison's request for an extra year. But the bottom line is a decision should have likely been made and it's unfortunate that Faison has had to wait as long as they have made him.