College football has a “Van Wilder” situation on its hands.
Oregon Ducks tight end Cam McCormick has been granted two more years of eligibility by the NCAA. That would give him 9 years of eligibility. McCormick is considering returning next season for his eighth year of college, but says nine years would be too many.
Of course, you’re wondering how the heck someone gets nine years of eligiblity, and what someone does in college for eight years. We’ll explain.
McCormick got to Oregon in January 2016 and redshirted that fall. He played in 2017 as a redshirt freshman, but things started going badly thereafter.
McCormick suffered a season-ending broken ankle in the Ducks’ opener in 2018. His ankle required three surgeries, leading him to miss all of the 2019 and 2020 seasons. After 2019, he was granted a sixth and seventh year of eligibility because of his two lost seasons due to injuries.
All players were granted an extra year of eligibility due to the 2020 COVID season, so that gave McCormick an eighth year of eligibility.
Last year, McCormick played in two games before suffering a season-ending torn Achilles tendon injury. He was granted a ninth year of eligibility to make up for last year’s season-ending injury.
This year has been just McCormick’s second full season since getting to Oregon in 2016. He has 9 catches for 64 yards and 3 touchdowns this year.
During his seven years in college, he has earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. According to Oregon Live, McCormick would “likely take classes in business or yoga or pursue internships to fulfill the academic requirements” to play next season.
We’re having some fun with McCormick by calling him “Van Wilder,” the National Lampoons movie character who was in college for a seventh year. But it’s pretty impressive that McCormick suffered this much bad luck and didn’t quit. Andrew Luck walked away from football after his injuries and rehab robbed him of his joy for the game. McCormick has persevered through a lot just to play this season.
To put things in context about how wild this story is, Barack Obama was still in office when McCormick began college. Further, McCormick and third-year Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert were in the same college class.
