College Wide Receiver to Play Until Hearing

EUREKA, Calif. (CN) - College wide receiver Marquise Deadwiler will play Saturday's Humboldt State Jacks game against Azusa Pacific University, a judge determined Friday.

Tuesday, Deadwiler filed a request for a temporary restraining order that would allow him to play until the court considers his eligibility on the merits.

Friday, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge W. Bruce Watson granted the temporary order with little fanfare, to which Deadwiler quietly exclaimed, "Yes!"

The wide receiver has been waiting a year to play due to a mixup with college credits.

Last year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association deemed 17 HSU student athletes ineligible because they had not taken 24 units toward their major the previous school year.

HSU officials were not aware of the NCAA rule, which took effect in the 1990s, and had not advised student athletes appropriately, according to the university's newspaper, Dec. 3, 2013.

Most of the students the NCAA had deemed ineligible took summer school and were able to play the 2013-2014 season, according to the paper.

Deadwiler took summer school, too, but the course he ran past the HSU registrar turned out to be on the quarter system, instead of HSU's semester system, making his credits just short, the paper said.

He was misadvised, an unnamed source told Courthouse News Friday. "I was misled twice," Deadwiler had told the university paper in December.

The 2013-2014 season was the last Deadwiler would be allowed to play, according to other NCAA rules.

The rules say a student can only play for 10 semesters, and the time runs whenever a student signs up for a full load of classes. Deadwiler signed up for a full load of classes in Fall 2013 before he found he was still deemed ineligible, according to the university paper.

Under the Friday ruling, Deadwiler can play with the Jacks pending a full hearing on the eligibility issues, whose date in Humboldt court has yet to be announced.

Deadwiler missed the Sept. 6 season opener where the Jacks "rallied from an 11-point deficit and scored 24 unanswered points to upend Texas A&M-Kingsville, 27-14," according to the Jacks website.

Courthouse News asked Deadwiler if this meant he'd play Saturday. "Yes," he said, gleaming.

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