N.C.A.A. Restores Marine's Eligibility to Play Football Early this summer, Steven Rhodes sent tapes of himself playing football to college coaches around the country, hoping to be invited to join their practices. The tapes included footage from some games Rhodes participated in while at Air Station Miramar, the Marine Corps base in San Diego. The games included referees and players wearing numbered uniforms. Rhodes described them as fairly informal and easygoing - participants ranged in age from 18 to 40, schedules were relatively fluid, and practices were considered voluntary. "They were just a little outlet to have fun and be able to stay in shape," Rhodes said. One coach who responded to Rhodes's inquiry was Rick Stockstill of Middle Tennessee State, in Murfreesboro, Tenn., near Rhodes's hometown, Antioch. He invited Rhodes to camp as a walk-on tight end, and it began to look as if Rhodes, a 24-year-old freshman, would make the team. But the N.C.A.A. momentarily halted the process, pointing to bylaw 14.2.3.2.1., its regulations regarding delayed eligibility. Rhodes's participation in an organized football league - with publicized schedules, official scoring and predetermined rosters - would be an infraction, and last week, Rhodes was declared ineligible to play for the Blue Raiders. Public reaction was swift and vitriolic, with opponents lining up to condemn the N.C.A.A. for taking away the playing rights from a Marine. The news screeched around social media platforms Monday, with even Senator John McCain writing on Twitter that Rhodes should be allowed to play. Sidney A. McPhee, the president of Middle Tennessee State, called the N.C.A.A. to address the matter, and Representative Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee wrote a letter to the N.C.A.A. president, Mark Emmert, expressing his belief that Rhodes should play. As the groundswell rose, the N.C.A.A. reversed course Monday afternoon when the vice president for academic and membership affairs, Kevin Lennon, issued a statement announcing that Rhodes could play immediately and would maintain four years of eligibility. Lennon added that there would be a review of N.C.A.A. guidelines regarding organized competition for those serving in the military, the sticking point in what became a national embarrassment for the governing body of collegiate athletes. When reached by phone Monday, before the N.C.A.A."s announcement, Rhodes said he believed the N.C.A.A. had burned him on a minor technicality. In fact, the root of Rhodes's complication stems from a ruling that had nothing to do with military personnel. In January 2010, the N.C.A.A. approved resolution 2009-22, which eased restrictions on international enrollees who had played in professional leagues but did not receive salaries. It grabbed headlines as a recruiting breakthrough for basketball and soccer teams that scoured for talent overseas. But a less-heralded addendum to the resolution was an alteration to the so-called delayed eligibility rule, which stipulates that an athlete has one year after graduating high school to enroll in college. After that grace period, the athlete must cease competing in a sport to preserve eligibility. Previously, the N.C.A.A."s eligibility clock began at age 21. As that rule was amended, one important stipulation was left out for every sport besides men's hockey and skiing. There was no longer an exception for those in the military playing in organized morale-boosting activities. Why change the delayed-eligibility rule to begin with? John Infante, the manager of the Bylaw Blog and a compliance expert, said universities were fearful that they would soon have a flood of older international players, with pro training, on college rosters. "You'd have players who go a significant amount down the road toward becoming a professional athlete," Infante said, "and then if it wasn't working out for them, they'd come over as 21-year-old college freshmen." The resolution was set in motion, in large part, thanks to a dissertation written in 2007 by Anastasios Kaburakis, an assistant professor of management and sports business at St. Louis University. Kaburakis said Monday that his primary goal was to change the way the N.C.A.A. viewed international recruits, but with that effort came a push to change the delayed-eligibility rule. "It was kind of a balancing act," Kaburakis said in a telephone interview. Trying to ensure that some of those bedrock principles that the idealists were trying to uphold in college sports needed to be upheld. Infante noted that an almost identical rule for Division II athletes includes the military exception for all sports, and the exception had stood for years without apparent controversy before Proposal 2009-22. He believes the removal of the exception could have simply been an oversight. "There's two assumptions you can make," Infante said. That it was a mistake or it was not there for a reason. Infante said there could certainly be more cases like Rhodes's if the rule remained unchanged. The outcry could repeat itself if, in a year or two, another veteran is denied eligibility because of once suiting up for a recreational event on some faraway military base. For now, though, Rhodes is expected to be in uniform Aug. 29, when the Blue Raiders host Western Carolina to begin the season. Rhodes's wife, Adrienne, who is in the Navy, is prepared to be there. Rhodes, once an anonymous walk-on, could now be the most recognizable player on the field. "To be getting support from millions of people that don't even know me," Rhodes said, "it's just a blessing."