What Missouri’s NCAA sanctions means for Kelly Bryant’s future

The NCAA is coming down with penalties on the Missouri Tigers for alleged “academic fraud.” How will that impact Kelly Bryant as he is just now settling in at Mizzou?

Things have just gotten a bit messy for the Missouri Tigers. The NCAA is hammering Mizzou for alleged “academic fraud” in three different sports. Missouri’s baseball, softball, and football teams are all being hit with penalties after the NCAA’s investigation in Columbia, Missouri.

With Kelly Bryant just joining the Missouri Tigers football team, will any of this impact his decision to stay there?

After all, Mizzou’s newest quarterback will be eligible to transfer (yet again) with these new NCAA penalties in place. The Tigers will reportedly be losing five percent of their scholarships and will be ineligible for postseason play for the upcoming 2019 season.

So, will Bryant take this opportunity to try and find green pastures one more time? According to Matt Connolly of The State, Bryant will apparently be content to stay with the Mizzou Tigers despite these new restrictions on the program.

That decision may be a bit of a head scratcher for some, but there are a few different reasons as to why it might make some sense.

First, Missouri is going to appeal this decision. That appeal may not work out in the Tigers’ favor, but there is still a chance that it will. If Bryant believes that this appeal will help the Tigers out, then the decision to stay makes sense.

Secondly, even if that appeal doesn’t pan out for Missouri, Bryant may be comfortable not even playing in a bowl game. If the former Clemson quarterback thinks that he can still prove himself to NFL teams enough in the 12 games of Mizzou’s regular season, then why even bother trying to move one more time?

Even with these penalties, Mizzou should still be able to win somewhere upwards of eight games next season. There’s also the slight possibility of the Tigers getting to 10 wins with Bryant leading this offense this coming fall.

If Bryant can thrive in this scheme and Mizzou wins at a high level, he’ll draw plenty of NFL interest and Missouri fans will still probably be pretty happy.