Maurice Smith Granted Full Release from Alabama
Yesterday, Nick Saban and the University of Alabama gave Maurice Smith his full unconditional release. Which will allow him to transfer to any school that will have him. Smith has made it clear that he wants to play at the University of Georgia, where his former defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart, is now the head coach. The Maurice Smith saga has been a long and complicated one, but it still isn’t over just yet. Smith still needs the SEC office to approve the waiver, as it is against the conference’s rules for players to transfer directly from one SEC school to another. The SEC office released the following statement:
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"“As part of the SEC waiver process, a due diligence procedure ensures that pertinent information from the involved parties is gathered. This information is gathered for the purpose of a thoughtful and appropriate consideration of the particular facts associated with each case. The intent is for the waiver process to be handled in an efficient but deliberate manner, so the timeline for resolution of a waiver request varies with each unique situation.The SEC does not provide waivers of SEC rules absent circumstances that demonstrate a clear reason for granting an exception to those rules. Each waiver request is reviewed on a case by case basis.”"
For his part, Nick Saban just seems glad to be done with the situation. In his press conference on Wednesday, he said:
"“We have done everything that we can do institutionally to allow the conference to make the decision about whatever they decide is in the best interest of the conference and the SEC rules relative to Maurice Smith. So that is past us now. It is beyond us. We don’t really need to talk about that anymore and I don’t have any other comments to make about it. We’re trying to focus on the guys we have here and what we need to do to help those guys have a chance to be successful.”"
So will the SEC office allow Smith to transfer to Georgia. Based on their statement it seems unlikely, as there does not appear to be “circumstances that demonstrate a clear reason for granting an exception to those rules.” I for one hope they do allow the transfer. Smith is by all accounts a hard worker, and he was unlikely to see significant playing time at Alabama this season due to the Tide’s depth in the secondary. Also, it makes sense that Smith would want to play for Kirby Smart, who he presumably has a close relationship.
But it’s all in the SEC’s hands now. We will have to wait and see what they decide to do. When they make their decision we will post it here, so be sure to look for that.