JD Spielman Transfers to TCU After Nebraska All But Blocks Move Inside Big Ten

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JD Spielman, son of Rick (Vikings GM) and Eden Prairie native, announced last night that he would be transferring from the University of Nebraska, to Texas Christian University (TCU), to be a Horned Frog.

JD entered the transfer portal in early June. He’ll be a Senior with one year left to play. The 5’9” playmaker did not qualify as a grad-transfer, so he needed a waiver to play immediately. I use past-tense (“needed”) because his waiver has already been granted, apparently.

The big question on every Frog fan’s mind is whether or not Spielman will see the field immediately this season. In order to play, Spielman was applying for a waiver to play immediately. There’s good news on that front as well as sources also told HFB that Spielman’s waiver request to play immediately in 2020 has been granted.

Jeremy Clark – 247Sports.com

None of this is a surprise. TCU, as mentioned in Jeremy Clark’s article that broke this news, has been the favorite to land Spielman for weeks. Texas Christian University wasn’t the favorite when Spielman first decided to enter the transfer portal, though.

Nebraska Underachievers

JD has been Nebraska’s best wide receiver for years. He’s the guy you had to plan for when the Cornhuskers were on the schedule. Still, he never went over 1000 yards or 10 touchdowns during his time in Lincoln. In fact, Spielman hit his high-water mark for receiving yards last season, with 898. The most TD’s he ever scored in one year, was 8 (2018).

Spielman is a legitimate NFL WR prospect and should get more run than that. I don’t blame him for leaving Scott Frost, who continues to drown “Big Red” with his no-hoodie personality.

When we first heard about JD Spielman’s desire to transfer, the University of Minnesota immediately came to mind. Obviously, his dad and family are here in the Twin Cities. With coronavirus going around and JD’s recent mental health battles, a waiver request to play 2020 back at home for his Senior season made sense.

On paper, the relationship worked on the football field too. The Gophers were parting with one of the greatest receivers in their history. Tyler Johnson graduating and moving on to the NFL, opened up a perfect fit for JD in the slot, where the Gophers are currently a question mark for 2020.

Unlike Nebraska, Minnesota produced TWO 1000 yard/10 touchdown receivers in 2019, with previously mentioned Tyler Johnson (1318/13) and Sophomore phenom, Rashod Bateman (1219/11).

Not so fast.

Any hopes or ideas that swelled early, of JD Spielman transferring within the Big Ten, were squashed quickly. Nebraska essentially threatened NOT to cooperate with a waiver request, if he tried to move inside the conference. It is now well-known around the transfer portal, that if you want a transfer waiver granted by the NCAA to play immediately, the school you are departing from needs to “play ball” or advocate on the side of the player, through the process.

If the origin school doesn’t “play ball” during the process, the transferring player is unlikely to receive the immediately-eligible waiver. Richard Pitino learned this the hard way during the 2018 basketball season. Marcus Carr left a toxic situation in Pittsburgh after his coach got fired, but wasn’t granted a waiver to play immediately because Pitt wouldn’t advocate on his behalf.

When Nebraska slammed the brakes on a Big Ten transfer for Spielman, the Gophers and other conference teams stopped recruiting him out of the portal. That would never happen, if his fate hadn’t already been decided by Nebraska.

NCAA Traveshamockery

The entire NCAA system needs to change. There’s no way the exiting team, in this situation, should have any say on where an athlete can or cannot transfer to. It’s the most obvious conflict of interest in all of college sports (and that saying something). The NCAA needs to enact the one-time transfer rule immediately, so this shit stops.

If Scott Frost falls short of everything he promised recruits back when they committed, and those players decide they are done with his no-hoodie policies, they should be able to transfer wherever is going to give them the best opportunity at the next level. There are millions of dollars on the line for some of these players (including JD), and we are letting petty coaches and Universities dictate whether or not they get the best interview situation possible, while those school rake in millions of dollars on their behalf.

It’s an absolute joke and, like many things in the NCAA, borders on unconstitutional. The bright side to all of this, though…. this isn’t going to deter Minnesota from stomping Nebraska. PJ Fleck and Co. are going to wipe the field with Frosty’s Huskers for the foreseeable future (just like last season), no matter who has (or doesn’t have) JD Spielman.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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