Ex-homeless student athlete’s football dreams almost died thanks to the NCAA
In this day and age, NCAA student-athletes have been on under heavy microscope-like watch, due to plenty of violations being committed off the playing field. With sports clubs like the Syracuse Orangemen basketball team being penalized for academic violations, Jameis Winstons‘s vulgar cafeteria outburst, college institutions and board members that are apart of the NCAA have really raise the effort on cracking down the smallest incident to make sure that there was no foul play. But what if a student-athlete’s living circumstances have force them to bend the rules a little just to survive in society? Does it come with a price to pay or can it be “swept under the rug”? Let’s ask Baylor running back Silas Nacita.
Silas Nacita is a transfer from Cornell University who decided to tryout for the Baylor Bears football team. Around the time he tried out, Silas was homeless, in which he took gigs such as waiting tables to save some money to help him survive the tuition plan while taking courses. He was able to register for courses as he was granted a financial aid package, but the package did not cover textbook and housing. In order to survive, Nacita slept on friends’ apartment floors while coming up with ways to fully excel in his courses including taking pictures of classmates textbooks. But when the NCAA got word that Silas, a now former homeless student athlete was accepting housing privileges from family and friends, the NCAA had decided to put their foot down and ruled the back ineligible.
Rushing for 191 yards in his 13 games he appeared in this season, Silas took to Twitter to expressed his disappointment after receiving news about this manner. The sophomore back from out of California gave the sports and social media world a tale of how much he truly wanted to play college football.
All I wanted to do was go to school and play the game I loved. pic.twitter.com/zYQ0HTaz05
— Silas Nacita (@Salsa_Nacho) February 25, 2015
But awesome news broke through. The Baylor Athletic Department, as did the NCAA, decided to reinstate Silas and granted him eligibility to still remain as a member of the football team. The NCAA did not go further into why Nacita was initially ruled ineligible but the media will be pondering about this latest stir up in the near future.
As controversial of a decision this is for both the NCAA and Baylor, the “real MVP” has to go to 6’0, 200 pound running back. He was able to show America that through hard work, dedication and a hungry attitude, you can persevere through anything to make your dreams come true. By the NCAA ruling Nacita Silas eligible again, this is proving young student athletes that it’s okay to get your hands dirty and do the necessary things to better your opportunity in life. An All Big 12 Academic selectee, the California bred running back is successfully breaking through tackles of life on the field and in the classrooms. After people hear stories about this, don’t be surprised Disney gives this kid a call regarding towards making a movie about his life. Let’s just make sure he graduates first before this comes into plan, before the NCAA plays “hip hop police” and shut everything down unnecessarily.
Omari White
When Omari is not lighting it up from 3 point land at your local gym, he is on Twitter talking about sports, music and life. Go follow him (@SmooveGuyO) and check his timeline out.
