Uona Kaveinga's appeal deserves to be judged by spirit of law

The Uona Kaveinga appeal to the NCAA deserves close scrutiny.

As they say in legalese, there are "mitigating" circumstances for the BYU player currently busting his butt in practice.

Initially, the NCAA ruled Kaveinga is not eligible to play for the Cougars this season after transferring from Southern California and enrolling at BYU in January.

The NCAA's decision not to waive bylaw 14.3 through 14.5.6 is currently on appeal by BYU in behalf of the native of Hawthorne, Calif.

NCAA rules say an athlete who transfers must sit out one year of competition. The rule was instigated to discourage players from transferring en masse from one school to another, picking a flavor of the month, after financial commitments have been made.

A waiver to this rule is given when a school receives major sanctions or penalties involving postseason play for violating NCAA rules. Players can then transfer to a school of their choice and immediately play.

This is where Kaveinga hopes there is some wiggle room. There is no precedent for his case.

While USC awaited NCAA sanctions, Kaveinga left a program with disturbing features that left him uncomfortable in December and enrolled at BYU on Jan. 4. It was a few weeks before that when USC's compliance office began an investigation into RB Joe McKnight driving around a Land Rover owned by a Santa Monica businessman and held McKnight out of the Emerald Bowl.

The NCAA slapped the Trojans with major sanctions June 10. Kaveinga, however, transferred to BYU before the actual hammer came down on USC, freeing football players to transfer without penalty.

If the spirit of the waiver rule on appeal is upheld, a legislative committee may yet rule he can play. If the letter of the rule is kept, as in the original decision, he cannot and will redshirt this fall.

Odds are, he'll be forced to sit out 2010.

His coach, Paul Tidwell, is understandably biased and wants the player on the field.

"I think he should play," Tidwell said. "The NCAA may never hear it, or if they do, they may not believe it, but Uona knew what the situation was there and he wanted a better environment. He knew with the coaching change and an investigation going on for some time that it should be a consideration.

"I hope they grant it. Unfortunately BYU has not been very fortunate with appeals and waivers for our young men. We've been turned down a lot more than we've been granted."

If Kaveinga has to redshirt, he has a redshirt year, said Tidwell. "He'll come back and be an outstanding player for us. Thing is, we do need him this year and he could help us now. Personally, I hope he gets the waiver. If they look at the whole picture and why he transferred, I hope they waive the rule so our appeal can go through."