Tressel said he expects Moeller and the team to petition for a sixth year of eligibility under the medical hardship waiver rule of the NCAA, though such a waiver is never a slam dunk certainty. But Moeller, a fifth-year senior, had to sit out last season after suffering a head injury in an incident during a family vacation in which he was sucker punched and fell, striking his head on the floor of the restaurant/bar.
?If a person is deemed out for the year and he is done playing, he's having surgery and all that, you can begin that type of initial paperwork,? Tressel said of the sixth-year appeal. ?Now, will it happen fast? I don't know.
?Normally if a guy's in a rehab situation and there's more games left and, who knows, he might get back -- but in this particular case, it's well-documented he cannot play the rest of the year.
Moeller was playing with gusto this season before he zoomed into a pile of players on Saturday and emerged with his left arm hanging limp. As Tressel pointed out, it appears to be a more serious recurrence of a muscle tear Moeller had suffered in 2008, and evidently due to the down time associated with his head injury -- he could do little in terms of strength and conditioning ? it was still a vulnerable spot.
?But you just feel sick for him because you saw the pain he was in last year not being able to help his teammates and now he was, and now he was having fun,? Tressel said. ?So, yeah, it's very disappointing and obviously it hurts us.?
