Florida A&M baseball seniors eyeing NCAA's eligibility relief

TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - "Who wants to stop playing the game you played your whole life and get like 15 games in all season and get cut short?" said Florida A&M senior Brad Hession Friday as the Rattler baseball team turned in their uniforms. I didn't think making the last out against USF was going to be the last time I touched a baseball this year."

For Hession, turning in his jersey Friday morning just didn't feel right.

"Just shocked. I don't know what to think about it right now."

For spring sport senior athletes across the country, their collegiate careers hang in the balance. There will be some type of eligibility relief. How much, what it all entails, remains to be seen.

"I can't see how the NCAA could possibly take what is normally a 56 game schedule and tell a young man because he played 15 of those 56, that cost him a year that cost him a year of eligibility," said FAMU head baseball coach Jamey Shouppe.

"I've been playing this game for a long time and I figured this year would probably be my last year," added Hession. "I just wanted to go out in the best way possible, and to have it cut short is just depressing a little bit."

A season cut short by no fault of his own. For this Rattler baseball team, for all teams, they're just taking it day by day.

"Everybody is in it together. It's not like some schools are doing this and some schools are playing right now and some aren't. We're all in this together," said Shouppe. "I just hope our country realizes that and we stick through this as a country and get through it in the right way."

"You don't expect it to happen. You're just like wow. I guess for a lot of people it'll take a while to realize we're done," added Hession. "Life sucks sometimes. You just have to roll with the punches and see what you can do about it."

Roll with the punches, and hopefully, into another year of baseball with the Rattlers. The NCAA said it will work through everything in regards to the eligibility relief in the coming days and weeks.