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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 2:07 p.m., Friday, August 2, 2002

Nebraska's Tata to transfer to UH

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Sports Writer

Tony Tata, a former St. Louis School football standout who attended the University of Nebraska the past four years, is attempting to transfer to the University of Hawai'i.

Today, Nebraska announced that Tata asked for a release from his football scholarship. People familiar with the situation said Tata wanted to return to Hawai'i to care for his son, who is battling an illness.

The NCAA permits a football player five consecutive years to play four seasons. Under that criteria, Tata does not appear to have any remaining eligibility if he were to transfer to UH. He redshirted as a freshman in 1998, played a total of 11 games in 1999 and 2000, and spent the entire 2001season recovering from knee surgery. Because the NCAA requires a transferring player to sit out a season before being allowed to play at his next school, Tata's eligibility clock will expire at the end of this season.

The only way Tata will be allowed to play for UH in 2003 is if he is granted a medical hardship. Tata will ask the NCAA to consider his knee injury in 2001 and his current family circumstances in his petition for a medical hardship.

UH coach June Jones declined to comment because Tata is not enrolled in school. But several UH staff members have said Tata has filed an application to enroll at UH.

As a St. Louis senior in 1997, USA Today named Tata as Hawai'i's High School Defensive Player of the Year. He visited Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Washington before signing with Nebraska.