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Dan Murphy, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Deontay Anderson among 5 ex-Ole Miss players granted waivers to play by NCAA

College Football, Ole Miss Rebels

Five more former Ole Miss players were granted waivers to play immediately at their new schools Thursday, skipping the usual one-year waiting period for student-athletes who transfer schools before graduating.

Houston's Deontay Anderson, UCF's Tre Nixon, UAB's Jarrion Street, Nebraska's Breon Dixon and Georgia Tech's Jack DeFoor will all be allowed to play for their new teams in 2018. UAB and Nebraska confirmed the status of their transfer players Thursday. Attorney Thomas Mars, who has worked with most of the players through this process, confirmed that Anderson, Nixon and DeFoor were also granted their waivers.

Those players, along with Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson, left Ole Miss this winter after the NCAA cited Ole Miss for a lack of institutional control and added to the sanctions the school imposed on itself in 2016. The NCAA banned Ole Miss from two years of postseason competition and reduced the number of scholarships it could use.

Mars and the transfer players originally argued that they were misled by former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze and because of that should not be penalized by having to sit out this season. Ole Miss took issue with those claims after Michigan included them in its waiver request for Patterson. Michigan and Ole Miss later agreed to rework its petition and the NCAA then approved the request.

Florida wide receiver Van Jefferson is still awaiting word on whether he will be allowed to play in 2018 like his former teammates. The Gators have yet to submit Jefferson's request to the NCAA.

"There's a good reason for that," Mars said. "I feel good about Van being declared eligible."

UAB confirmed that Street received his official clearance and added that the former defensive back at Ole Miss will play running back for the Blazers.

Mitch Sherman and Alex Scarborough contributed to this report.

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