Chris Bleich Denied Waiver by NCAA

The Syracuse offensive lineman will have to sit out the 2020 season.

Syracuse football received some bad news on Thursday, when transfer offensive lineman Chris Bleich tweeted that his waiver was denied by the NCAA. 

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"To all the fans that showed endless support of me since I got here I want to say thank you to each and everyone of you for all your words of encouragement to me in these tough times," Bleich said via Twitter. "But sadly, today I was informed my waiver was denied by the NCAA."

Despite other transfer waivers being granted across college football, Bleich's was denied. Bleich transferred from Florida after starting several games last season. He committed to Syracuse as his transfer destination in December. 

He posted on Twitter on April 13th that he had submitted his paperwork to the NCAA to be granted immediate eligibility. That was denied on Thursday, nearly five months after his paperwork was filed. 

Bleich signed with Florida as part of their class of 2018. He appeared in four games during the 2018 campaign, but redshirted that season in accordance with NCAA rules. He started about half of the season in 2019 and left the program in November before entering the transfer portal. 

A little over a month later, he committed to Syracuse. Bleich is originally from Pennsylvania, but falls outside of their 100 mile benchmark in order to receive immediate eligibility for transferring closer to home. 

The loss of Bleich hurts offensive line depth for the 2020 season. Syracuse starts the year at North Carolina on Saturday. That game starts at noon eastern and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.