UK quarterback Joey Gatewood should soon learn if he’ll be eligible in 2020
Whether University of Kentucky quarterback Joey Gatewood will be granted immediate eligibility or not by the NCAA should be determined soon.
A UK spokesperson on Monday told the Herald-Leader that it recently received “final information and documentation necessary to properly apply” for a waiver for Gatewood to receive immediate eligibility effective this fall. The school will file that waiver this week.
In addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of Gatewood’s transfer caused a slowdown. Because he transferred within the Southeastern Conference — he attended Auburn the last two years — he had to complete documentation with the league in addition to the NCAA.
The NCAA on Monday ruled J.T. Daniels, a quarterback who announced his transfer from USC in late May and ended up at Georgia, immediately eligible after just a little more than a month’s time. Based on that development and other recent rulings, a decision on Gatewood could come as soon as August.
All transfer cases are different, but Daniels and Gatewood were part of the same 2018 recruiting class and on the surface have similar cases as far as games played at their prior school and possible reasons for looking elsewhere.
Daniels was USC’s starter as a true freshman in 2018 but suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Trojans’ 2019 season-opener; Gatewood red-shirted in 2018 but played in seven games at Auburn last season before announcing his decision to leave in October. Both decisions to transfer appear rooted in a desire for future playing opportunities, as both players witnessed true freshmen put up award-winning numbers in 2019 (Kedon Slovis in Daniels’ case, Bo Nix for Gatewood). Daniels chose Georgia despite its addition of Jamie Newman, a graduate transfer from Wake Forest, and Gatewood came to UK as part of the same recruiting class as Beau Allen, a homegrown product and fellow four-star recruit.
If Gatewood is ruled eligible, either he or last year’s backup, Sawyer Smith, would be the likely next-in-line behind Terry Wilson, who was the Wildcats’ starter entering last season before losing his own season to a knee injury in the second game of the year. If Gatewood is ineligible, Kentucky would be in the same predicament in 2020 as it was in 2019, when it had only two scholarship quarterbacks with any playing experience available.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 4:21 PM.
