No one ever said life was fair.

That's a fact you no longer have to explain to quarterback Chason Virgil of West Mesquite High School in Mesquite, Texas.

Virgil, who committed to play football at Mississippi State on May 15 of this year, received a call yesterday that changed his life.

"They (Mississippi State) called my coach today and (are) wanting me to grayshirt," Virgil said.

"Grayshirt" in the college football recruiting vernacular means colleges are asking you to delay your enrollment an extra semester, from the fall semester to the spring semester.

But for Virgil, who graduates from high school early and was expected to enroll at Mississippi State in January of 2015, it means they now want him to wait an entire year, until January of 2016.

Virgil said he had cleared his early enrollment with Mississippi State staff, so the news came as a shock.

"I have to start over now," he said. "I haven't talked to any other schools in awhile so I just have to see what happens."

Virgil's high school coach took to Twitter yesterday to voice his displeasure, and specifically to the actions of Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen.

Miss St. pulls scholarship from our QB Chason Virgil w/16 days til graduation. Classless move by "coach" Dan Mullen — Jeff Neill (@neill_jeff) November 21, 2014





Chason Virgil -35 tds/6int passing -8td rushing. One of the best young people I've ever coached -only flaw was trusting "coach" Mullen. — Jeff Neill (@neill_jeff) November 21, 2014



Neill obviously added the quotation marks around the word coach because he feels like what Mullen did was either unethical, immoral or both.

Unfortunately, Mississippi State and Mullen, per NCAA rules, can not comment on recruits to give their side of the story.

It's important to note that this isn't the first time something like this has happened, far from it.

Other colleges and their coaches have backed out of scholarship offers at the last minute, forcing players to make last-minute, life-altering decisions about their careers.

This is part of the problem with the NCAA. It's an organization designed to protect the interests of its members, not the students who will matriculate at its schools.

Whether it's the lack of compensation for use of their image or something even more basic as being able to trust the word of a "coach", the student-athletes remain at the whims of these institutions.

As we look forward, we have to wonder what will happen to the parties involved here. Surely Virgil will find a soft-landing spot. He's a talented quarterback and universities need them.

As for Mullen, perhaps the negative publicity from this questionable maneuver - which has now become national news in less than 24 hours - may put a damper on his future career.

Many analysts are expecting Mullen to jump from Mississippi State to either Michigan or Florida following the season. After all, Mullen has the Bulldogs in rare company, ranked No. 4 in the most recent college football playoff poll after spending almost a month ranked as the No. 1 team in the country before losing to Alabama last week, and the other schools are said to be willing to pay more than the Bulldogs.

Life is not fair. Chason Virgil knows that now.

Maybe Dan Mullen will realize it if he doesn't get one of the jobs he allegedly covets or if Mississippi State fans don't like their good name being associated with such actions.

Or maybe the NCAA will realize it after there's been another successful lawsuit because of their "rules", which allow colleges to skirt by without comment.