NCAA denies Jahvon Quinerly’s eligibility waiver

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Jahvon Quinerly (13) listens to coach Nate Oats during the men’s basketball team’s first open practice of the 2019-20 season. (CW / Joe Will Field)

The NCAA has denied Alabama transfer guard Jahvon Quinerly’s waiver to play this season, according to multiple reports. Quinerly will have to sit out the 2019-2020 season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne and coach Nate Oats released a joint statement after the ruling was announced.

“We just received notification from the NCAA that our request for Jahvon Quinerly’s immediate eligibility has been denied,” the statement read. “We are disappointed in this decision and will be appealing. He and his family have been through a lot, and despite those challenges, Jahvon has done everything he’s been asked since he’s been here.”

Quinerly’s request to be granted a waiver from the NCAA surrounded his name being erroneously involved in the FBI’s 2017 investigation of improper benefits in college basketball.

Initially a commit to the University of Arizona in August 2017, the FBI’s investigation found via a wiretap that Arizona assistant coach Emmanuel Richardson had offered a $10,000 bribe to the Quinerly family in return for Quinerly’s commitment. After this report was made public shortly after his commitment, Quinerly reopened his recruitment process in October 2017 and later committed to Villanova.

While Villanova was determining Quinerly’s eligibility for the 2018-19 season due to the bribe, Richardson testified in court that he assisted Villanova in vetting Quinerly and stated that he did not pay money to the Quinerly family.