CFO Patronis to NCAA: Reverse Course on FSU Darrell Jackson’s Eligibility Decision Now

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis issued the following statement advocating for the NCAA to reverse course on Florida State University Defensive Tackle Darrell Jackson’s hardship waiver and make him eligible to play immediately due to recent reports that the NCAA granted eligibility to University of North Carolina Wide Receiver Tez Walker. The CFO posted about this decision earlier this morning on X.

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “The NCAA are a bunch of out-of-touch hypocrites. North Carolina threatens antitrust allegations and they punted to save face on their terrible decision. I think the NCAA needs to focus more on helping these young people instead of simply not admitting they were wrong and inflating their own self-importance by playing politics. In that spirit, FSU’s Darrell Jackson must play now. The NCAA has placed him into a lose-lose situation: if you take care of your family, you can’t play football? What kind of decision is that? I suggest the NCAA get back to recognizing the importance of family in sports and prove that it’s more than picking winners and losers. The longer the NCAA takes to make this clear and obvious decision to allow Darrell to play football this season, the sooner we’ll decide to pursue legal action. I look forward to seeing a great decision in Darrell’s favor from the NCAA very soon.”

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About CFO Jimmy Patronis  
Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis is a statewide elected official and a member of Florida’s Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis works each day to fight insurance fraud, support Florida’s firefighters, and ensure the state’s finances are stable to support economic growth in the state. Follow the activities of the Department on Facebook (FLDFS) and Twitter (@FLDFS).