Former Kansas QB Brock Berglund seeking release from scholarship

Former University of Kansas quarterback Brock Berglund has hired a lawyer to help him get released from his scholarship so he can play for another school.

The freshman from Denver was dismissed from the squad last week when he didn't attend a mandatory team meeting with the Jayhawks' new coaching staff. He feared that by attending he would be locked in for another semester.

Berglund told The Associated Press in a phone interview that he sent a written request to school administrators in late December asking for permission to speak to other universities, but the request was denied.

The 19-year-old has a meeting scheduled for Friday in Lawrence, Kan., with the university's student-athlete appeals board, which will make a determination on whether the denial of Berglund's transfer request was fair.

He said he found out he had been dismissed from the team through media inquiries and Twitter, not from the school.

"It's confusing and frustrating," Berglund said.

Berglund accepted a scholarship offer from the Jayhawks in 2010 from then-coach Turner Gill. But when Charlie Weis took over the program, he brought more of a pro-style offense to the Jayhawks along with quarterback transfer Dayne Crist, whom he had coached at Notre Dame. Crist will be eligible to play next season because he's already graduated from Notre Dame.

The Jayhawks also added former Brigham Young QB Jake Heaps, who has to sit out a year under NCAA transfer rules.

Berglund said he was told by new quarterbacks coach Ron Powlus that Crist was the starter entering the 2012 season and that Berglund would compete for the backup spot.

"I just want to move on with my life and let the university move on with their life," Berglund said.

The school has declined to comment because the appeal hasn't been heard.

A threat with his arm and his feet, Berglund led Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., to back-to-back state titles. He was recruited by the likes of UCLA, Boise State, Vanderbilt and Colorado before joining the Jayhawks.

But Berglund had a tumultuous tenure at Kansas. The highly touted quarterback didn't practice with the team last season due to legal issues. He pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge after allegedly punching a man during a party.

Berglund said he would consider transferring to a school in the Pac-12 or the Western Athletic Conference - if the Jayhawks release him from his scholarship.

He called his situation "beyond frustrating," especially because the Jayhawks have welcomed in transfers such as Crist, Heaps and former Oklahoma receiver Justin McCay, all of whom were released from their scholarships at their former universities.

Crist and Heaps were both among the top QBs in the country coming out of high school, while McCay was one of the nation's most explosive wideouts.

Jordan Webb, the Jayhawks' starting quarterback last season, remains in school but is no longer part of the program.

"What is Kansas' overriding interest in refusing to grant (Berglund's) release, other than to punish him for some grievance they believe he's committed?" said Berglund's lawyer, Vince Linden. "I don't know what the grievance is. They never gave him a reason for their denial. They just told him no. Is that decision fair?

"Yet it's his burden to explain before the board (on Friday) why this decision is unfair. That's hard to do when you don't even know the reason for the denial."

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