This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The saga of Chuckie Keeton's knee injury took another turn Wednesday with the school announcing he is out likely out for the rest of the season due to the injury he sustained against Wake Forest. So what to take from this? First of all, there are a lot of us who owe BYU's Remington Peck an apology after the defender said during BYU's press conference on Monday that he knew the Aggies were going to apply for a medical hardship scholarship for Keeton. The Aggies denied that was the case and Peck was dismissed and dissed, but Wednesday's news shows that perhaps Peck does have a line to USU's doctors, as Utah State coach Mat Wells sarcastically suggested during his presser on Monday. Utah State hasn't said it will apply for a medical hardship for Keeton, but that is the option they have if they want to get the senior another year.The requirements for receiving such a waiver are as follows, according to NCAA Bylaw 14.2.4:*The student-athlete may not have participated in more than two contests or dates of competition or 20 percent of the team's completed contests/dates of competition*The injury or illness must occur prior to the completion of the first half of the season*The injury or illness does not have to occur during practice/competition, but it must be incapacitating*Appropriate medical documentation must exist and be provided. Incapacitating has been taken to mean season-ending. After the Wake Forest game, Wells stated clearly Keeton's injury wasn't season-ending and that his ACL was intact. Normally when schools are considering applying for a medical waiver there are discussions between the team and NCAA officials as to their chances. It's highly unlikely the Aggies made their decision to sit Keeton without such discussions, so they must feel their chances of getting the waiver are good.Rulings for medical waivers aren't given until the season is over, a detail that discourages schools from milking an injury so an athlete could get another year in situations where it might not be appropriate, so don't expect a ruling any time soon. Of course, the other possibility could be that Keeton wouldn't apply for a waiver, effectively ending his college career. Regardless of what happens, another season without Keeton on the field is disappointing for Aggie fans for sure. Hopefully, with time, he can recover and again be the player defenses feared.
&n