Former Mountaineer Pat McAfee had on West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday to talk about the ruling in the court on Wednesday and how that affects RaeQuan Battle’s future at WVU.
Morrisey outlined the steps he took including sending multiple letters to the NCAA pleading Battle’s case. Then, after the NCAA repeatedly said they are not going to grant Battle a waiver, Morrisey explained the legal action.
“At the end of the day, RaeQuan was denied and the more we started to look at that fact pattern, we saw that some people were approved, some people were denied. Then we start to say, the NCAA is operating on top of a house of cards and they think they’re unaccountable but they too have to comply with the antitrust laws of our country. The competition laws that governs how businesses behave, how individuals can transit and move on to receive the type of employment or athletic opportunities of their choice. What we saw here, the NCAA we thought, were violating the antitrust laws,” Morrisey explained.
Morrisey then detailed the win in court yesterday and what it means for student-athletes.
“There is a clear pathway to allow them to play and allow them to play without penalty,” Morrisey said. “Student-athletes for the first time in a long time have been put first by this big multi-state coalition.”
Morrisey and McAfee would later talk about Battle’s specific situation. Morrisey talked about the emotional appeal of the circumstances surrounding Battle and his reasoning to transfer as well as the mental health issues which were a factor in his decision.
“I will say, when the focus is always on, they’re not looking for the best interest of the kid, they’re not trying to get to the heart of the story about how this kid (Battle) was affected. He’s got a really compelling story if you look into it,” Morrisey said. “If anybody across the country watches it, they’re going to become a fan of this kid (Battle).”
“I was very intrigued by this entire thing. Just the thought optically of the NCAA sending in two lawyers, after a 45-minute testimony of a student human athlete, baring his soul pretty much, you look like the biggest group of a—holes on earth,” McAfee said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Morrisey said they are not going to take yesterday’s win in court for granted, but they are going to work diligently over the next two weeks to try and get the decision to go in their favor at the hearing on Dec. 27.
“We’re not presuming anything,” Morrisey said. “We have 14 days. We think we’re correct on the law. We’re very pleased the court is considering all of our arguments, but we have to go back. We have Dec. 27, and we’re going to keep going. I think we’re correct on the law and we’re going to keep going to the court and ask them to do the right thing.”
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