NCAA Grants NC State's Braxton Beverly Eligibility

N.C. State guard Braxton Beverly is now eligible for this season after it appeared he'd have to sit out a year.

The NCAA rules NC State guard Braxton Beverly eligible to compete immediately after it initially said he had to sit out a year after transferring from Ohio State. 

Beverly, a three-star point guard from Kentucky, enrolled early at Ohio State in May shortly after he graduated high school with the intention of playing for Thad Matta, but Matta was forced to resign shortly after he arrived in Columbus. Beverly then decided to transfer to NC State but was initially forced to sit out a year per the NCAA's transfer rules—if a player who has not graduated transfers from a Division I school to another Division I school, he is forced to sit out a year—even though he had only taken summer classes at Ohio State and never competed nor practiced officially with the team.

The transfer rule has been waved a fair amount for extenuating circumstances—all Penn State football players were permitted to transfer and compete right away after the Jerry Sandusky scandal, for example, and the sit-out rule is often waved if a player is moving closer to home to be with a sick loved one. But the NCAA twice refused to budge for Beverly, so he hired a lawyer to apply additional pressure on the NCAA. 

It worked:

Based on additional information, NCAA staff reconsidered and granted NC State’s transfer waiver request for Braxton Beverly, allowing him to compete immediately.

— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) November 14, 2017

Eligible! pic.twitter.com/PsjQTB2Dqb

— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) November 14, 2017

N.C. State hosts Bryant on Tuesday night, though it's unclear whether Beverly will play. 

"Braxton is absolutely thrilled with the NCAA's decision to make him immediately eligible to compete for NC State this season," Beverly's attorney Scott Tompsett said in a statement. "He'll be suited up and ready to play in tonight's game against Bryant."