Three takeaways on Isaac Copeland's eligibility ruling

We're still waiting on official word from Nebraska, but CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein reported Tuesday morning that junior forward Isaac Copeland had been granted his medical hardship waiver by the NCAA and would be eligible for the entire 2017-18 season.

Here are three quick thoughts on what the Copeland ruling means for the Huskers going forward...

Considering Copeland is Nebraska’s first ever former five-star recruit and one who ranked the No. 23 overall player in the 2014 class, there’s really no understating what having him eligible for a full season means to Nebraska.

Yes, the knock on him is that he underperformed at Georgetown, but prior to the herniated disc in his back that sidelined him for what would have been his junior year, Copeland was actually a big piece for the Hoyas.

The 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward earned Big East All-Freshman Team honors in 2014-15 and ranked second on the team in minutes played (32.0 per game) as a freshman while averaging 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds.

Talking with many people at Georgetown and close to Copeland, there’s a fairly common opinion that Copeland was just a bad fit in John Thompson III’s system. The same could also be said for several other top recruits who ended up transferring from Georgetown before Thompson was finally let go.

One of the things that sold Copeland on Nebraska more than anything was how head coach Tim Miles broke it down to a T how the Raleigh, N.C., native could flourish in his scheme and how the Huskers would maximize his talents.

"Coach Miles did a great job of breaking my game down from a freshman to the little bit I played in my junior year, and he had all my stats, all my shots and everything,” Copeland told HuskerOnline.com after he committed to NU. “Things I'd never even heard about: areas on the floor where I'm really effective and stuff like that and things I need to work on.

"With that he was able to show me what I needed to work on in the offseason and how he would use me in the offense. It was all things that I liked a lot."

Regardless of how his career started, Copeland’s future looks to be extremely bright going forward.

Not only does Copeland give Nebraska a marquee player in its starting lineup, his presence changes the roles of essentially everyone else around him.

First and foremost, the Huskers no longer have to debate whether junior Jack McVeigh or sophomore Isaiah Roby will start at the four. Instead, they now have the luxury of utilizing both players more to their strengths.

McVeigh can continue to be one of NU’s 3-point specialists on the perimeter, and Roby can play more on the wing and attack facing the basket.

Copeland also should give sophomore center Jordy Tshimanga a little more room to operate in the low post, as Copeland can draw opposing front courts out of the paint and leave Tshimanga matched one on one.

Just from a spacing standpoint, having a player with Copeland’s size and versatility will cause defenses problems because of his ability to play inside or out.

That means guards like Glynn Watson, James Palmer, Anton Gill, Evan Taylor will be able to operate in the lane much easier.

Forgive Nebraska fans if they weren’t exactly holding their breath while waiting for final word on Copeland’s medical hardship waiver request.

It seems as if the past 15 or so years have been filled with nothing but bad breaks for the Huskers.

From the botched paper work of Roburt Sallie in 2006 to Andrew White unexpectedly spurning NU for Syracuse last summer, the program has been dealt plenty of crushing blows over the years.

That’s what makes the NCAA’s ruling, and the timing of it, so refreshing for Nebraska fans.

The NCAA could have easily drawn the process out for months, especially with how late the official waiver request was actually submitted due to some poor cooperation from other involved parties.

It really came down to a matter of how quickly the NCAA moved the process along as to whether Copeland would miss the first 11 games, only a handful of games, or no games at all.

To the Huskers’ pleasant surprise, the NCAA jumped right on the situation and came to a relatively quick decision. As a result, Nebraska and Copeland will go into the start of 2017-18 practices know he’ll be making his Husker debut to start the season.