JUCO Quarterback Gets Screwed Out Of D-1 Transfer Because He Studied The Ocean Instead Of Plants Or Planets

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College football quarterback Nick Garcia is looking for a new home, again. The third-year signal-caller was forced to re-open his recruitment because of course credit issues.

His decision to study the ocean instead of celestial objects, plants, or other sciences hurt his transfer. Now he is forced to scramble for his next college football opportunity with fall camp just a few weeks away.

Nicholas Garcia

Nick Garcia at Glendale College

Garcia, a Class of 2020 recruit from Burbank, California, went the JUCO route out of high school and landed at Glendale College. He completed 60.1% of his 587 pass attempts for 4,524 yards and 54 touchdowns en route to All-Conference honors over 19 games played.

Garcia's time at Glendale came to an end after three years. His recruitment opened after two seasons as the starter and offers came from Kansas Wesleyan, Northwood and Missouri Valley, among others.

In the end, Garcia committed to Tennessee Tech on June 19. That is no longer the case.

Nick Garcia won't play college football for Tennessee Tech.

The rising junior ran into issues with his credits. He attended six full-time semesters at Glendale, and needed 72 hours toward his degree to meet the transfer requirement.

Garcia had 72 hours, but only 70 of them counted. Tennessee Tech does not consider 'Oceanography' to be a natural science.

Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Meteorology, Geology and Physics count. Botany, the study of plants, counts. Oceanography does not.

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The staff informed him of that disappointing reality Tuesday.

Garcia got screwed. If Oceanography didn't count as a natural science credit, that should have been figured out well before his commitment.

Also, how does the study of the ocean — which covers 70.8% of the Earth — not count as a natural science? It doesn't get much more natural than the ocean.

Now, with summer workouts getting underway at most D-I programs, and fall camp about a month out, Garcia needs to find a new program. The timing of Tennessee Tech's decision is really unfortunate.