Gov. Cooper urges NCAA to reinstate UNC wide receiver

By Brian Murphy, WRAL

Now North Carolina's governor is getting involved in an NCAA case involving a UNC football player.

Roy Cooper, a UNC graduate, wrote a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker on behalf of UNC wide receiver Devontez "Tez" Walker, whose waiver for immediate eligibility after transferring from Kent State was denied by the NCAA. UNC is appealing the decision.

"This is the first time I have taken such an action, but this is an unusual and compelling case amidst the backdrop of all the major changes happening in the NCAA," Cooper wrote.

Baker was the Republican governor of Massachusetts previously, and Cooper, a Democrat, references his relationship with Baker in the letter.

Cooper outlines Walker's situation in his letter. Walker committed to East Tennessee State but suffered a knee injury and enrolled at NC Central, whose 2020 football season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Walker played two seasons at Kent State before transferring to North Carolina in the off-season.

UNC argues that Walker, a junior, should be considered a "one-time transfer," and not subject to new NCAA rules on two-time transfers. Cooper wrote that there is "a good argument" that Walker is not a two-time transfer since he only played football at one school.

Walker, a first-team All-ACC preseason selection, said he transferred to be closer to his ailing grandmother, who lives in Charlotte.

"During your service as Governor of Massachusetts, I admired your dogged pursuit of commonsense solutions to our thorniest problems," Cooper wrote. "In your current service leading the NCAA, I have great hope that you will be able to bring the same thoughtful and balanced approach to the rapidly evolving world of college sports.

"I realize this is one of hundreds of decisions you need to make, but nothing could be more important to Tez than this opportunity to get one of the finest university educations in the country at UNC and to compete in front of his family in Carolina Blue."

On January 11, after Walker had enrolled at UNC, the NCAA Division I Council voted to tighten criteria for immediate eligibility waivers for undergraduate students who transfer a second time. The council includes a representative from each Division I conference and it voted unanimously.

Multi-time transfers must demonstrate a personal need for medial or safety reasons to depart the previous school.

"As a result of the DI council vote, national office staff, at the direction of the NCAA members, have begun applying those criteria for multiple-time transfers for the 2023-24 academic year," the NCAA said in a statement to ESPN.

Florida State defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. also had his immediate eligibility waiver denied. He transferred from Miami to be closer to his ailing mother.