The NCAA has denied a final appeal from Oklahoma linebacker Mike Balogun and his attorney Woody Glass to overturn the organization's decision to bar Balogun from playing for the Sooners this season.
The NCAA upheld its ruling that Balogun played amateur league football after his 21st birthday and is therefore ineligible.
"I am so disapointed for Mike," Glass said Friday morning. "His only avenue now is in the courts."
The 25-year-old Balogun turned 21 on Sept. 28, 2004.
Balogun’s other option would be to abandon any further pursuit of playing again, seek a trainer and try and prepare for possible tryouts with NFL teams
-- Mike Jones
The NCAA upheld its ruling that Balogun played amateur league football after his 21st birthday and is therefore ineligible.
"I am so disapointed for Mike," Glass said Friday morning. "His only avenue now is in the courts."
The 25-year-old Balogun turned 21 on Sept. 28, 2004.
Glass hasn’t had a chance to talk to Balogun to decide the next course of action, but the route through the NCAA has been exhausted.
Balogun can re-enter the court system in hopes of gaining a permanent injunction barring the NCAA’s action, but that would leave Oklahoma in danger of forfeiting any games in which Balogun played under by-law 19.7. Glass said that would entail a process that might end before next season in hopes that Balogun could take a redshirt option and possibly play in 2010, although that course of action might not be available under NCAA guidelines.
Balogun’s other option would be to abandon any further pursuit of playing again, seek a trainer and try and prepare for possible tryouts with NFL teams
-- Mike Jones
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