ATHENS — There is some clarity on the scholarship status of David Marvin, the kicker and punter at Wofford who is transferring to Georgia. But it doesn’t completely clear things up.

Marvin said he will be a blue-shirt at Georgia this fall, after coming over as a graduate transfer.

“The most accurate description is that I will be joining the team as a blue shirt that starts the fall of 2017,” Marvin said.

Which obviously leads to the question: What is a blue-shirt?

That’s a mechanism by which a player can transfer to a school after the start of practice, and then receive a scholarship and be eligible – but not count towards the team’s signing limit that year. They count the following year. There’s an explainer at this link here. 

According to NCAA bylaws, blue-shirting applies to players who are not recruited by a school. So in theory it applies to players who suddenly show up after practice begins and are then awarded scholarships.

What’s not entirely clear is whether Marvin would count this year against the team’s 85 scholarship limit. Normally the 85 scholarship limit is a hard cap, and walk-ons who are awarded scholarships in the fall count against that.

UGA officials have had no comment yet on Marvin or his status. Marvin announced his recruitment on his Twitter page after head coach Kirby Smart’s signing day press conference.

Smart did say during his press conference that Georgia will be “fine with the 85” limit. But obviously with the Rodrigo Blankenship scholarship situation hanging out there, whether Georgia has awarded a scholarship to another kicker for the 2017 season would be a major twist.

We will await further clarity from UGA on this.