STILLWATER – Oklahoma State will be playing the 2022-23 season with one less scholarship player as the NCAA has denied the waiver for ULM transfer Russell Harrison as he’s exhausted his NCAA eligibility. This was first reported by Marshall Scott of Pistols Firing.
Harrison committed to the Pokes back on May 9 and reported in June but was ultimately deemed ineligible over the summer.
According to the NCAA website, the issue with Harrison surrounds his five-year eligibility clock.
If you play at a Division I school, you have five-calendar years in which to play four seasons of competition. Your five-year clock starts when you enroll as a full-time student at any college. Thereafter, your clock continues, even if you spend an academic year in residence as a result of transferring; decide to redshirt, if you do not attend school or even if you go part time during your college career.
Harrison began his lengthy NCAA career at Wayland Baptist, an NAIA school, at the beginning of the 2016-17 season. He then sat out the next two seasons due to personal issues before landing at Clarendon College, a west Texas JUCO, where he earned NJCAA All-America honors before transferring to ULM, where he spent the next two seasons.
Harrison shot well from 3-point range while at ULM, shooting 38% from 3-point range this past season, while averaging 13.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
While Oklahoma State needs three-point shooting and scoring to improve, this means Mike Boynton and Co. will use up two of the three scholarship reductions as determined by the NCAA sactions passed this past year. That leaves just one remaining scholarship to burn next season, giving the Pokes plenty of wiggle room in the 2024 recruiting class as there will be plenty of room.
