Earlier this week it was reported that the Texas Longhorns were backing off of their offer to former USC Trojans quarterback Max Wittek. The sudden change of heart shocked a lot of people as the Longhorns have long been considered the favorite to land the former blue-chip high school recruit.

Thanks to the Honolulu Star-Adviser, we now know why they backed off. The plan was for Wittek to graduate this spring from USC so that he would be eligible to play immediately in 2014, which is not going to be the case.

Wittek had sought to transfer, with Texas and Hawaii as his top destination choices. But Wittek will not complete work on his bachelor’s degree until December. If he had earned a degree this month, he would have been eligible to transfer without restrictions and play this coming season.

Initially, the only word as to why Texas pulled the offer was because of some off-filed issue, and this definitely falls into that category. So now Texas, Hawaii or any other FBS level institution that sought his services are out of luck because they would not have been able to put him on the field anyway.

In regards to football, the best option on the table for Wittek right now is to transfer to a school at the FCS level and then transfer back into the FBS for the 2015 season when he’s eligible once again.