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Originally Posted by MikeWaters
what is the Riley Nelson rule?
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Riley Nelson played a year at Utah State before going on a mission. Then he transferred to BYU. It used to be that someone could transfer to another school right after a mission and be eligible to play immediately because the year required to sit out that applies to transfers was included in the time they were on a mission. That's what Nelson did.
But USU complained and got the NCAA to pass a new rule a few years ago. Now the rule for missionaries is that if they actually enroll and play for a team and then go on a mission, if they want to transfer they have to sit out a year like everyone else. But then to make it especially punitive, they are automatically not granted a release from the former school which means they also have to pay their own way for a year and cannot participate with their new team in any way during that year. They have to actually play somewhere first for this to take effect. Merely signing a letter of intent but never enrolling doesn't trigger the rule, so people like Taysom Hill aren't subject to it. The ironic thing about USU pushing for that rule is that it ends up protecting BYU more than any other school since they send out the most missionaries. Still, with everyone able to go on a mission at age 18 now, I doubt the rule will come into play very much.
I don't know what the official name of the rule is but BYU fans call it the Riley Nelson rule because he's the reason it was passed.