This time of year brings about the divergence of players across the CFB sphere. Some head to the playoffs, and others begrudgingly head home. Within this is a faction that chooses a path dreamed of by everyone but traversed only by a certain ilk. One quarterback who falls into said ilk, after a long-drawn decision owing to external factors, has declared for the 2025 NFL Draft. 

The player will go down in the annals of college football. As hyperbolic as that may sound, it’s unequivocally true. He’s garnered over 8500 total yards in his vetted career spanning across 2 programs, most of which came at bluebloods Ohio State. Just this past season, he broke the all-time ACC yardage record for a single season for the Syracuse Orange. He now bows out to move to the next rung of the footballing ladder, albeit not completely on his own terms.

The man in question is, of course, Kyle McCord.  He’s so much of a staple at this level, he didn’t want to leave! Although he’s completed his final year of eligibility, McCord filed a waiver with the NCAA, attempting to gain an extra year. He cited the fact he played 5 games as a true freshman, while the redshirt threshold sits at 4. With his appeal still unresolved, he’s now headed to the draft board come April. The lack of resolution via the NCAA does bring forth a notion of discrepancy. They haven’t followed up on precedence set by themselves not long ago.

No two scenarios are identical. Especially when it pertains to lawsuits and career-altering decisions. However, Kyle McCord may feel hard done by. For a sport he evidently gave a lot to, it didn’t reciprocate the love so to speak. Recently, Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia went through a similar predicament. He, too, ran out of collegiate eligibility and took it up with the NCAA in court. Difference is, Pavia was able to attain a resolution.

Diego Pavia had no D1 offers coming out of high school. As a result, he went down the JUCO route at New Mexico Military Institute. Fast forward a couple of excellent years, he’s QB1 at an SEC program. Pavia sued the authorities citing that his tenure in JUCO football should not count against him. His quintessential argument was he had no reasonable opportunity to benefit from NIL. The result of this ordeal was that he was indeed granted another year. It would be low-hanging fruit to the point that the SEC program was able to bend convention and rules. While the ACC’s Syracuse hasn’t been able to do so for Kyle McCord yet. As it turns out, there is another interesting wrinkle to this.

There is a chance Kyle McCord doesn’t leave for the NFL after all

It’s unclear whether Kyle McCord’s decision to declare for the NFL is owing to the case, or independent of it. The reporting around this exact detail has been mixed. There is a school of thought that he and his camp were made privy to the imminent decree and decided to get in front of it. According to ESPN Radio Syracuse’s Steve Infanti on X, “I have confirmed through a team spokesperson that Kyle McCord made his decision to enter the NFL Draft independent from anything NCAA-related. The school has still yet to hear back on the waiver appeal” This raises a parallel with another QB.

Carson Beck has announced his decision to come back to school for his final year. He will spend it under centre at Miami. About a fortnight ago, Beck announced he was declaring for the NFL Draft. He’s subsequently rescinded this declaration. One wonders whether Kyle McCord could pull something similar. If he really is oblivious to the NCAA’s final verdict, a decision in his favor could spark a reversal.

Alas, whatever path McCord traverses will seemingly lead to a positive end. The general consensus seems to think he will get picked as a mid-rounder if he’s on the draft board. A respectable position which could transpire into opportunities down the line. Otherwise, he could return to Syracuse for one last dance and elongate his legend in College Football., if that is an option.