If you are 100% certain we have seen the last of Otega Oweh in a Kentucky uniform, what if I told you that maybe we haven’t?
While the chances of Oweh returning don’t feel or seem great, it is possible. That’s because of the NCAA’s pending fifth-year NCAA eligibility proposal, “which would allow athletes to have five years of eligibility from the time of their 19th birthday or high school graduation, whichever is earlier, and eliminates the ability for a player to redshirt or file a waiver.”
This seems
fair… right? Then again, this is the NCAA. If you fear that this will get complicated, your fears are justified.
As Ross Dellinger points out, a sticking point is grandfathering in athletes.
“This is especially important for those players having recently completed or are completing their fourth season who (1) have not taken a redshirt and (2) who fall within the proposed concept’s 5-year window,” Dellenger wrote at On3.
Dellinger goes on to mention that “those athletes who are completing or have completed this year their fourth season of eligibility within a four-year window would theoretically be eligible for a fifth season under the concept. This all assumes that the concept is formally adopted — and that might not happen until the summer, if it happens at all.”
So for Oweh, this applies directly to him. He just finished his fourth season and four years of playing, and he could be grandfathered in if this proposal passes. Can you imagine Oweh coming back for a fifth season and third with Kentucky? That would be something. It would raise the floor of next year’s team, that is for sure.
Denzel Aberdeen was thought to be gone to the NBA, but he has since committed to Florida and is poised to potentially play a fifth season of college basketball.
Dellinger also mentioned the NIL aspect in college athletics, and this proposal, particularly for athletes who can make more money staying in school than going pro. That could apply to Oweh.
There is a lot of waiting happening right now, but this proposal’s passing could be a game-changer for college athletics, and Kentucky could benefit from it.
Saying this, the rule may very well not pass until sometime in the summer, so we’re still potentially months away from learning how this will play out.
In the meantime, Kentucky has to build its roster with the assumption that Oweh isn’t getting a fifth year. If he somehow gets one down the road, I doubt they’d have trouble coming up with the money to get him back on campus for one more season.
