Former wide receiver Justin Brown confirmed he will continue to work to earn his degree from Penn State despite now playing football for Oklahoma. Former kicker Anthony Fera, who transferred to Texas, also will be working to complete his Penn state degree. Both players have said that the ability to finish their education through Penn State was important to them despite now playing football elsewhere.
“Just being there for years and putting in a lot of work on and off the field and in the community – no disrespect to Oklahoma, I’m sure that this is a great university – but I just felt like it meant a lot to get that Penn State degree,” Brown said. “If a lot of courses weren’t going to transfer, then I wouldn’t be at OU,” he said. ”I was going to get my degree regardless. Everything worked out. Everything fell in place.”
As you know by now, the NCAA granted any Penn State player a penalty-free transfer if they chose to move to a new location to play football. Nine players, including Brown and Fera, have chosen to take advantage of a second opportunity to play meaningful football this season. Those who have transferred have been ridiculed by some and wished well by others. But the idea of completing a degree through Penn State is interesting to me, and if nothing else it sort of speaks to the value of the Penn State educational focus that seems to get overlooked during all of the madness that has been going on.
I will preface this by saying that I am not a Penn State graduate, so from this standpoint I have no bias here. But I am curious how Penn Staters feel about this situation. Do you think players who transfer should be eligible for a Penn State degree? I happen to think it is perfectly fine but I do not know if I am in the minority here or the majority.
Please share your opinions in the comment section below, or send us a tweet or comment on Facebook with your opinion. We will recap some of the responses at a later point in time.
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