Monday, July 18, 2011

Report: Jamie Graham Transferring to UCLA

This according to Tennessean beat-writer Jeff Lockridge's Twitter feed. This might be old new for some of you, but I just saw the story this morning on Bruins Nation. Here's the complete tweet from Lockridge:
While I was on vacation, former Vanderbilt DB Jamie Graham confirmed on my voicemail he is transferring to UCLA for grad school & football
VSLNation wishes Graham the best at UCLA and in his future endeavors.

5 comments:

AD said...

If some member of the Brain Trust has a hot minute at some point this summer, I bet those of us who aren't used to fine grain examination of collegiate athletics would benefit from an explanation of how this sort of situation arises.

This summer, we've seen Andre Walker and now Jamie Graham depart Vandy to use a final year of eligibility at another school.

Is graduation a requirement? It would seem like it at least is a practical one for the receiving school because it allows the player to play immediately. Must the player also enroll in graduate coursework? That probably is an obvious yes.

Maybe more interesting is why these players depart. There was a lot of coverage of speculation about Walker and his future role going forward, especially after redshirting at a later stage in his college career (I think I'm remembering this correctly). We understood from these signals that he didn't see himself with a defined role on an increasingly stacked and healthy squad. Graham's move seemed like a surprise, but maybe not to the close watchers. Is the coaching change the obvious explanation? Did CJF try to keep him? Want to keep him? Send him off?

Just curious about this sort of move that we now have seen twice.

(word verification: Dorer)

Douglas James said...

In order to play right away (and not sit out a year like a normal transfer) it needs to be a student who already graduated and is going to grad school at the new college. Vandy had done similar ones in the past. QB Richard Kovalchack (spelling?) transfered to Vandy after playing at Arizona I believe. Interestingly, the SEC this off-season banned the practice on the SEC level. Not sure their reasoning but whatever.

As far as the individual's go...I'm completely speculating with Walker but I assume it was a combination of several things 1) he would have had a tough time getting major minutes on this team, 2) I think him and CKS might have had a slight falling out when CKS criticized him during some of his injury stuff during the season and 3)with everything that happen with the death of his mom, I think he just wanted a fresh start somewhere.

As far as Jamie goes, some of the poster's on Vandysports.com had mentioned that Jamie was looking into grad school at Vandy but for whatever reason it didn't work out (didn't get in? didn't have programs he wanted?)

This is mostly speculation on my part but I think both os these kids gave a tremendous about to both the Vanderbilt teams they played on the the larger Vanderbilt community. Both received their degrees and both should have the opportunity to finish their educations and athletic careers at whatever school they want.

Best of luck to both of them. I'll be rooting for both.

Anonymous said...

I think the reasoning was in large part due to the Jeremiah Masoli situation at Ole Miss. The general perception was that wasn't looking to advance his education, but a felon who got thrown out of Oregon and wanted to play football somewhere else. Maybe that's not true, but an awful lot of people viewed it that way.

If somebody feels they can contribute more at a smaller school while getting their master's, I don't have a problem with it. I can see where the SEC would block transfers in, since they're at the top of the food chain, but I hope they still allow people like George Drake to transfer out. It lets the players get more time, and helps the mid-majors stay a little more competitive.

AD said...

Thanks, Douglas. I had forgotten about Kovalcheck. And I agree with your conclusion that both players were great contributors to Vanderbilt, and I have no reason to wish them anything but the best in their new homes. Just was curious about the mechanics and related trappings, and you and Anonymous shed some more light on that.

Anonymous said...

As for Jamie, I recall a published report that there was a good bit of indecision and perhaps inadequate assistance from the folks in McGugin when Jamie was trying to get into grad school at Vandy. Things fell between the cracks and he was kind of left out. As a result, he had to look elsewhere to have a place to play and work on a masters.
Seadog73