March 21, 2000
Texas A&M forward Aaron Jack has been granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA and will play for the Aggies next season, A&M coach Melvin Watkins said Tuesday.
Jack, who averaged 8.2 points and led the Aggies in rebounding (6.5) and field goal percentage (.625) this season, has played just 2 .5 seasons of college basketball. This season, he earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors and was named first-team Academic All-Big 12 for the third straight year. He was the only player in the conference to receive both honors.
Jack began his career at Penn State, where he was redshirted in 1995-96. The following season, he suffered a concussion - his third in nine months - on the first day of practice. Penn State would not clear him for further participation and after extensive consultations with doctors, Jack transferred to A&M at mid-term in 1996-97. Jack did sat our the spring and fall semesters of 1997 under NCAA transfer guidelines, finally becoming eligible in mid-December of 1997.
"We're extremely pleased that the NCAA recognized the series of misfortunes Aaron experienced and decided to grant him another year," Watkins said. "Aaron is the epitome of what a student-athlete should be and we look forward to his leadership next season."