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The NCAA denied Michigan sophomore running back Ty Isaac's hardship waiver request last week. Michigan is in the process of appealing that ruling.

(Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com)

ANN ARBOR -- The NCAA denied Ty Isaac's request for a medical hardship waiver at Michigan last week, Brady Hoke says.

And now, Michigan is in the process of appealing that ruling, and holding out hope that it might have Isaac -- a USC transfer -- on the field this season.

Hoke said earlier this week that Michigan's "appeal" to the NCAA's denial was pending.

"The waiver got denied initially, and we've appealed it," Hoke confirmed Wednesday. "(We appealed) probably last week, mid week."

Isaac, a former five-star recruit, announced his decision to leave USC after one season and transfer to Michigan earlier this summer. He went through the process of seeking a medical hardship waiver to be closer to his mother, who lives in Shorewood, Ill., and is recovering from hearing loss surgery.

The surgical procedure Isaac's mother underwent prohibits here from flying, thus making it impossible for her to see her son play in Los Angeles.

The biggest hurdle for Isaac and Michigan during this entire process, though, has been the distance between Isaac's mother in Illinois and Michigan's campus in Ann Arbor.

The NCAA requires all student-athletes seeking a hardship waiver to transfer to a Division I school within 100 miles of the family member in question. Ann Arbor is more than 250 miles away from Isaac's family home in Illinois.

"(The family health issue) has to be a debilitating injury," John Infante, a former NCAA compliance officer who operates the popular "Bylaw Blog" for AthNet, told MLive in June. "It doesn't have to be life-threatening, necessarily, but it would have to be something that prevented her from working or getting around, if it's a surgery for hearing loss, I'm not sure if that'll qualify, but it might.

"His bigger problem, though, is that you're required to transfer within 100 miles of the family member. Being four hours away or 200 miles probably isn't going to cut it. There are considerations that can trump that, one thing they say is that if you're dealing with someone suffering from such a serious illness that they've been given a defined amount of time left to live, then all other considerations are off the table. But in this case, it doesn't sound like that's the case."

Michigan will open its 2014 season Saturday (noon, ESPN2) against Appalachian State at Michigan Stadium. Sophomore Derrick Green will be the team's starting running back, while classmate De'Veon Smith will be the No. 2.

Isaac is currently not listed on the depth chart, and currently not eligible to play. He rushed for 236 yards in 14 games as a reserve last season for USC.

If his appeal is denied, Isaac will have to sit out the 2014 season, and he'll have three years of eligibility remaining at Michigan starting in 2015.

"(We) don't know," Hoke said. "You don't know how long (the appeal process) will take."

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