Blasczyk Needs More Than Missed Seasons for 6th Year
James Blasczyk, who played for Texas A&M and Southern Cal over the last five years, is seeking a sixth year to go play at another California school:
Blasczyk started his career at Texas A&M, where he spent two years as a reserve center. During his freshman season in 2008-2009, he appeared in just one game and two minutes for the Aggies, and ultimately redshirted. In his redshirt freshman season, he played sparingly, totaling just 20 minutes for an A&M team that reached the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32.
Blasczyk then attended a junior college and redshirted in Texas in 2010-11 before transferring to USC.
To earn a sixth year, Blasczyk needs to show two seasons where he was denied a participation opportunity outside of his control. His transfer year will not count. That means both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons would need to be denied opportunities for his waiver to work. But in 2009-10 he played in 13 games. Not only is that more than 30% of Texas A&M’s season that year, he also appeared in games as late as the Aggies’s first round NCAA tournament game against Utah State.
Blasczyk’s waiver looks like a long shot then. The good news is that USC is willing to file the waiver at all. Blasczyk appears to be departing the program, so for USC to help him (albeit probably against hope) to gain another year to play somewhere else is admirable.