{"id":6675,"date":"2014-04-23T21:02:34","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T01:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6675"},"modified":"2014-04-23T21:02:34","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T01:02:34","slug":"birdsong-wins-appeal-reportedly-favoring-odu-and-marshall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6675","title":{"rendered":"Birdsong Wins Appeal, Reportedly Favoring ODU and Marshall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Birdsong<\/a>Last week Michael Birdsong\u00a0said that after originally releasing him to transfer to any non-CAA school, Everett Withers was also blocking him from transferring to ODU, Charlotte, Liberty, and Appalachian State. Birdsong filed an appeal and had his case heard by a faculty committee yesterday afternoon. Today the committee supported Withers’ block of CAA schools and Charlotte, a school which is on the Dukes schedule this fall. It went against Withers and cleared the way for Birdsong to consider ODU, Liberty, and Appalachian State however.<\/p>\n

Now that the appeals process is done, Birdsong is reportedly leaning toward transferring to ODU or Marshall<\/a>. The DNR’s Matthew Stoss is reporting that Marshall has already offered Birdsong a full scholarship<\/a> and he will take an official visit to the school this weekend. Thus far, Birdsong has had no contact with ODU. He says he plans to reach out to former JMU football assistant coach Ulrick Edmonds, who is now on the ODU staff, as soon as the paperwork clears.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to see why Birdsong would be interested in playing QB for either Marshall or ODU. Both programs love the sling it around on offense. And both school’s offenses will be led by senior quarterbacks due to graduate after this upcoming season. NCAA rules dictate that Birdsong will need to sit out this upcoming season. He’ll have two years of eligibility remaining after that. Clearly he must have confidence that he’ll be able to beat out the other QBs on the Marshall and ODU depth charts. Whether or not he can or will remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Coach Withers hasn’t commented on the decision, but AD Jeff Bourne said\u00a0“I think the committee made a good decision. Coach Withers and I support it.” That’s some Grade A political speak right there, but there’s really not much else to say from JMU’s perspective. The NCAA’s rules regarding transfers are horribly unfair. Coaches and other members of athletic departments are free to move around as they see fit. Athletes are not for some reason. The rule doesn’t make a lot of sense and it’s yet another aspect of college football that most of us as fans need to ignore or rationalize away. But personally speaking, the fact that Coach Withers tried to use it to his (and JMU football’s) advantage, doesn’t make me think any less of him. And I’m ready to put the whole thing behind us and move on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n