USC soccer head coach Lincoln Riley didn’t conceal his frustrations with the NCAA amid its ongoing authorized battle with one in every of his gamers.
In January, the Trojans landed offensive lineman DJ Wingfield within the switch portal to shore up the staff’s depth at left guard. Wingfield simply wanted the NCAA to grant a waiver request that may give him one other 12 months of eligibility. Neither the college nor the participant anticipated any points.
Nonetheless, the NCAA denied Wingfield’s request in March in addition to a subsequent enchantment. With the faculty soccer season simply across the nook, Wingfield sued the NCAA looking for injunctive reduction in order that he might take the sector.
Riley weighed in on the problem Friday after holding staff apply.
“It isn’t proper,” the USC head coach mentioned, by way of the L.A. Occasions’ Ryan Kartje. “I haven’t seen something prefer it in all my years of teaching.”
Riley additionally referred to as on the NCAA to “simply do the suitable factor” and let Wingfield play out his ultimate season.
If the NCAA’s ruling holds, Wingfield could be stripped of the $210,000 in NIL cash promised by USC, a payday that he described as “as soon as in a lifetime.”
Wingfield and USC each believed the waiver could be accredited, given the latest authorized victory of faculty quarterback Diego Pavia. The Vanderbilt QB went by means of an identical scenario and later received a preliminary injunction from a U.S. District Court docket to realize an additional 12 months of eligibility.
The 24-year-old lineman performed his first two seasons at El Camino School, a JUCO program based mostly in L.A. County, California. He later transferred to New Mexico State in 2022 and tore his ACL within the very first sport of the season, instantly ending his marketing campaign.
Wingfield performed 9 video games for New Mexico in 2023 earlier than touchdown a beginning job at Purdue final season.
