Bickerstaff Loses Final Year at UW
July 16, 2002 | Football
Erik Bickerstaff, a fullback with the Wisconsin football team, will not be eligible to play for the Badgers this fall, head coach Barry Alvarez announced Tuesday.
Bickerstaff was a partial qualifier as a freshman at Wisconsin and, therefore, lost that year of eligibility. NCAA rules state that a partial qualifier can gain back that lost year if the student-athlete earns a degree in four years. Bickerstaff, who is academically eligible as far as his grade-point average is concerned, is just short of completing his coursework in four years.
'I feel badly for Erik because he worked very hard to earn that lost year back,' Alvarez said. 'He was one of our best players in the spring and we were counting on him for the fall. We will try to help him relocate to an NAIA school so he can play this fall. He then could come back to finish his academic work and earn his degree from Wisconsin.'
Bickerstaff would have been a senior at Wisconsin this fall and had played his way to the No. 1 fullback spot for the Badgers.
