Syracuse Football: Luke Arciniega Granted Two More Years of Eligibility

Believe it or not, here's a story involving the NCAA with a positive outcome.

Syracuse Orange Football linebacker-turned-defensive end Luke Arciniega came into 2015 spring practice with the possibility that he might be practicing in vane and never play another down for SU. Not only will he play but he's been given two more years to rack up the stats.

Luke Arciniega has been in a unique position this spring. With an NCAA medical redshirt request pending, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker-turning defensive end has been practicing with no guarantee of ever playing in a college football game again.

But on Saturday, he posted a message on Instagram that the NCAA has granted him not one, but two additional years of eligibility.

Luke isn't kidding about his college career not going as planned. He initially enrolled at Nevada but his scholarship went away after one season thanks to a disagreement with the coaching staff regarding his status following a concussion. From there he went to Sierra Community College and ended up choosing SU over BYU, Miami and others. He played well in 2013 and saw action in four games last year before The Dreaded LBI struck.

It's unclear exactly how he ended up earning a second year of eligibility, though some think it might be a late payback for the way he lost his scholarship at Nevada. Regardless, it's two more years for a solid defensive presence with experience. He may or may not end up using all of it but it's nice to know he's not out there practicing for nothing.

Also, we now have two more years in which to figure out how to spell his last name correctly cause I still really want to spell it Arcinega every time...