IOWA CITY, Iowa – Last week, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz expressed the sense of urgency for an NCAA decision on defensive end Drew Ott. When his position coach stepped in front of the media on Wednesday, he couldn’t offer anything other than sympathy for the player he recruited out of Nebraska. “The thing you feel bad for is Drew because he has no control over it. We don’t have any control over it,” Morgan said. Morgan and tight ends coach LeVar Woods met with the media Wednesday here in the All-American Room of the football performance center. They went over the outlook for their positions as the program navigates through spring practice. But everyone involved with the organization along with the fans and media continued to await news on Ott.



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Ott applied for an extra year of eligibility in November after tearing his ACL in Week 6 against Illinois. He missed the rest of the season. He also suffered an elbow injury during the second game against Iowa State that limited him in that contest and the rest of them until he injured his knee. Both issues required surgery.

“It’s been denied several times,” Morgan said of Ott’s request for an additional season. “He has an appeal in again and the process just seems to be extremely frustrating because no one from the NCAA has talked to anybody in this building about it or him, which seems to be unusual.”

The Big Ten first heard Ott’s case and passed it on to the NCAA in late February.

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Ott played as a true freshman in 2012 followed by full seasons in ’13 and ’14. He has yet to hire an agent and but did participate NFL Combine after the NCAA said it wouldn’t affect his eligibility.

From what Morgan said, Ott and Iowa have worked hard trying to learn his fate from the NCAA.

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“He’s written appeals. He has communicated. Our compliance people are going back and forth trying to help out. But, yeah, it’s – you know, it’s hard and you feel for him, because he just wants to know. He just wants to know, can I get an agent, can I continue to play, do I – what am I able to do?” Morgan said.

Ott earned second-team all-Big honors following the ’14 season. He’s been named academic all-conference after each of the last three campaigns.

Ott’s rehab would have kept him out of spring practice. But at this point, he’s caught in limbo.

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“He’s not with us at all. Right now he’s treated as a graduate. He works out with (Strength) Coach (Chris) Doyle. He hasn’t been granted that year so can’t participate with us,” Morgan said.