It's possible Jamal Robinson's career at UL may not be over.

Yesterday at his press luncheon, Louisiana head coach Mark Hudspeth said the school would ask for a medical hardship waiver for Robinson, a senior who never redshirted.

As it turns out, a hardship appeal may not be necessary.

In order to be eligible for a medical redshirt a student-athlete must not have previously redshirted (check), must have had a season ending injury in the first half of the season (check), and played in fewer than 30 percent of his teams games (check.)

Wait....check???

Didn't Robinson play in four games?  Don't the Cajuns play twelve games? (Bowl games don't count).  Isn't four divided by twelve equal to .33 or 33 percent?  Wouldn't that math along disqualify Robinson?

As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend."

There's a second way to calculate this, and it's the formula used by the NCAA.

A season consists of twelve games.  Thirty Percent of that is 12 X .3.  That equals 3.6, which is the number of games a player is allowed to play in.  But you can't play 6/10 of a game.  You either play in it or you don't.  The NCAA says round UP.

That makes four games you can participate in during a twelve game season and be able to wipe out the whole year as if it never happened.  And, because a student-athlete has five years to play four, that would mean Robinson would be eligible for a medical redshirt.

Now, nothing is automatic, especially where the NCAA is concerned.  UL will have to wait until the end of the season to apply for the medical redshirt and the NCAA must approve it.

Carleigh Martin, Assistant Director of Compliance at UL, says the rule, 12.8.4.3.6.2 is pretty clear as to the calculation the NCAA uses:

Any computation of the percent limitation that results in a fractional portion of a contest or date of competition shall be rounded to the next whole number (e.g., 30 percent of a 29-game basketball schedule -- 8.7 games -- shall be considered nine games).  (Revised: 1/14/97 effective 8/1/97, 4/26/07, 7/31/14)

So again, 12 X .3 is 3.6.  That rounds up to four.

Those of us, me included, who assumed four games played out of twelve would be 33% were using the wrong formula.

NCAA math says Robinson should be okay.

Yeah, I'm confused too.  But Cajun fans should be happy and relieved.

Maybe there is something to this "new math" after all.

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