Victory Vaka lost his scholarship to play college football at Western Kentucky just two months after he lost his mother. He is currently held hostage by a broken system because of how the Hilltoppers classified his departure from the program.
They labeled him as a “failure to report.”
As a result, Vaka is unable to enter the transfer portal prior to his final season of college football and does not have a place to play. If the NCAA does not grant him an exception, the defensive tackle’s career is over.
Victory Vaka returned home after his mother’s death.
Vaka, a former three-star recruit in the recruiting Class of 2021, is a journeyman. He spent one year at BYU, one year at College of the Canyons, one year at Texas Southern and one year at Northern Arizona before he landed at Western Kentucky in January for his final season of eligibility. The 6-foot-3, 335-pound defensive lineman spent the entire spring with the Hilltoppers.
Unfortunately, his mother suddenly passed away on April 2. Vaka flew home shortly thereafter.
Western Kentucky understood his situation. The coaching staff was willing to give him the time he needed to grieve.
According to Vaka, an assistant strength coach called him up nine days before his mother’s funeral. The coach told him that he was expected back in Bowling Green in June and provided him with a workout plan for the summer. Fair enough.
Although the expectation was already set, his position coach reached out to ask Vaka where he was on May 26. Travis Taylor, the chief of staff at Western Kentucky, told Vaka and his agent one day later that the program decided to revoke his scholarship. He was cut from the team just a few days before he was expected to be back on campus. That was his understanding, at least.
Western Kentucky did not allow him to enter the transfer portal.
Victory Vaka was planning to enter the transfer portal after his release from the program. However, according to a report from Chris Hummer of CBS Sports, that was (and still is) not possible.
College football players are typically allowed to enter the transfer portal — even when the portal is technically “closed” — if his financial aid is canceled by the school. It falls under the NCAA’s aid reduction or cancellation exemption.
The Hilltoppers did not give him that opportunity. Western Kentucky processed Vaka as a “failure to report,” which is considered a disciplinary dismissal. The ‘disciplinary dismissal’ tag cancels out the aid exemption. The athlete cannot enter the transfer portal.
Western Kentucky did submit a Legislative Relief Waiver to the NCAA that would allow him to enter the portal at Vaka’s request. The waiver was denied by the NCAA
Therefore, Vaka is completely stuck. His agent says that multiple FBS opportunities exist if he was able to enter the portal. He’s not. The Hilltoppers chose to say that he failed to report while mourning the loss of his mother on a relatively open timeline that they provided to him.
Hummer detailed the full exchange between Vaka, his agent, Taylor, and other members of the Western Kentucky coaching staff. It sounds like there was a severe lack of communication by both parties. Fine. Business is business.
Vaka understands why the Hilltoppers decided to move on but he questions why he was not told to come back sooner and questions why they had to label him as a failure to report. It is a bad look for the program and, as is normally the case, the NCAA.