PISCATAWAY, N.J. — A visibly upset Greg Schiano is still baffled at the playing status of Naseim Brantley, who has not yet been deemed eligible by the NCAA. The Rutgers football head coach was adamant that the best interest of the player is not being pursued here as Brantley’s case continues to drag on.
Last month, Schiano said that Brantley remained in “NCAA purgatory” as issues about his qualification status persisted. Brantley joined Rutgers football in January out of the transfer portal but has yet to play a down of college football.
On Wednesday in speaking to the media, Schiano was asked about the status of Brantley and where things stand with the wide receiver is “still pending.”
With Rutgers set to play their eighth game of the season, Schiano was asked if it is too late for Brantley to make an impact in 2023.
“Well, he certainly can help us still this year. But yes, there is time…because he deserves to play football. Now. I’m not going to get into it more than that,” Schiano said.
“I’m just so disappointed in everyone involved. So you read into ‘everyone’ however you’d like. And if you want to look around, you figure out who ‘everyone’ is, but there’s some people that did the wrong thing.
“And you know what I’ve learned” I’m not the judge, but they will face the judge someday and what they did to that kid isn’t right. That’s not right.”
Brantley played for Western Illinois last year where he had 53 catches for 909 receiving yards with nine touchdowns.
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Rutgers (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) will play on Saturday at Indiana (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten).