USC football doubles down on where it stands on Bru McCoy controversy

The Bru McCoy--USC football saga never seems to end. Originally, it was McCoy (the No. 9 player in the 2019 class according to 247Sports) committing to USC. Then, it was McCoy transferring to Texas after USC Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury quickly left the Trojans for the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job in the NFL.

Then, it was McCoy transferring back after spring ball due to homesickness. Then, it was McCoy missing the 2019 season due to illness, which was very unfortunate. Then, it was McCoy bouncing back in a major way; playing very well in 2020 considering that there were three elite college wideouts ahead of him in the WR room.

Then, it was McCoy being arrested due to a domestic violence case a handful of weeks before the 2021 season, and being suspended from the team. Then, it was decided in the very next month that McCoy would not face criminal charges. USC's Title IX office still wanted to review the case themselves before they lifted his suspension from the squad.

Then, it was the Title IX case being dismissed about six months later. Then, it was McCoy entering the transfer portal and transferring to Tennessee. Now, it's rumors of USC not allowing McCoy to be immediately eligible to play this season. It's unclear what caused these accusations, but Vols Head Coach Josh Heupel appeared to maybe accuse USC of wrongdoing:

“Our administration has done everything they possibly can throughout the process (of getting McCoy eligible), and they’re still working as hard as they can,” said Heupel. “There are some things that are out of my control, Bru’s control and our administration’s control.”

Heupel seems to be referring to either the NCAA or USC football not doing their part with Bru McCoy's eligibility situation.

It's likely not USC football's fault that this is happening, though. OutKick contacted USC about the situation on Friday, and SC responded with this statement:

"USC has – consistently with NCAA rules – promptly and accurately responded to all requests from the University of Tennessee related to the eligibility of Bru McCoy. At no point since Bru entered the transfer portal in January have we objected to him being made immediately eligible to play at Tennessee. The issue of Bru’s eligibility ultimately rests with the NCAA, and we wish him the very best."

- USC Football

Trey Wallace of OutKick then spoke to sources about two different ways McCoy could have his eligibility. It truly does come down to either USC or the NCAA if his sources are indeed correct.

His sources say that "USC could have signed off on a No Participation Opportunity (NPO) Form to allow McCoy to be eligible immediately, or…If USC didn’t sign off, Tennessee would need to file a waiver with the NCAA, with cooperation from the USC program, a process UT has already started."

As for the NPO form, there would be no benefit for USC to not sign it unless there was a legit reason not to. Click on and take a look at the link for the form posted below by Reign of Troy's own Alicia de Artola Castillo:

If USC did not sign the form, perhaps it was for a reason. Perhaps they could not check all of those boxes concerning McCoy and his transfer. If that's the case, then USC did nothing wrong. USC has made it clear that they have had no issue with McCoy being ruled immediately eligible. Therefore, they must have signed the form, or not signed it due to a potential legit reason not to.

Hence, either way, it's now on the NCAA to go ahead and finish this process. To double down on where they stand with these rumors on McCoy not being eligible to play because of USC, they re-released their statement on the situation on Twitter:

There's no evidence to USC doing anything wrong here. Again, they wouldn't get any benefit to McCoy not being immediately eligible this year anyway, so it wouldn't even make sense for SC to randomly try to sabotage the situation, which is something people seem to be accusing them of doing.