Iowa football: Oliver Martin waiver wait has big-time implications

The Iowa football team is patiently waiting for a decision on Oliver Martin’s eligibility waiver. The waiver and time waiting has big-time implications.

The Iowa football team is less than two weeks from their first game, and they still don’t know if they will be with one of their possible starting wide receivers.

Let that sink in. We are less than two weeks and for non-injury and non-academic reasons, we still don’t know if Oliver Martin will be suiting up for the Iowa football team.

Fans are getting impatient while remaining hopeful, and the team continues to carry on, optimistically preparing for Martin to play this season while cycling in guys behind him just in case, but how long can it take for the NCAA to come to a decision?

We recently found out that the actual appeal was only sent in a few weeks ago, so while we were excited as a waive of denied appeals came in thinking no news was good news, that doesn’t necessarily appear to be the case.

From a fan’s perspective, we just want to know if Oliver Martin is playing, but from a team perspective, this has a huge impact on the success of the Iowa football team’s offense in 2019.

Oliver Martin could be a key figure in the offense and could step in and replace the departed production of Nick Easley with ease. He can play all three wide receiver positions, but with his strong hands, would make for a reliable slot wide receiver target for Nate Stanley.

However, what does the coaching staff do? They’re in a precarious predicament at this point, The Hawkeyes have Tyrone Tracy Jr and Nico Ragaini waiting in line, and if Martin’s appeal is rejected their playing time will be jumping up significantly. But Martin and Stanley have never played together so if you give Tracy Jr and Ragaini more playing time in camp, you’re wasting an opportunity for the three-year starter to build a rapport with possibly his best pass-catching option on offense.

And let’s not forget about the actual student-athlete caught in the middle of all of this. Oliver Martin’s summer has been quite a controversial whirlwind, and not knowing if he will be playing college football this season has to be hard on him.

For the sake of the Iowa football program and, more importantly, for Oliver Martin, I hope the NCAA can come down with a decision by the end of the week so the Hawkeyes can get prepped for their game against Miami of Ohio on August 31st.