Iowa recruit Arland Bruce IV asks court to let him play until it rules on eligibility

Attorneys for University of Iowa recruit Arland Bruce IV have filed a motion in Polk County District Court asking for an emergency hearing on the Iowa High School Athletic Association's decision to deem the receiver ineligible to play football at Ankeny High School this fall.

In pleadings filed Monday morning obtained by the Register, Bruce's attorneys also requested an injunction on the IHSAA's ruling that would allow Bruce to play while the court determines his eligibility. 

"I want him to be playing Friday night against Waukee," Brad Obermeier, one of Bruce's attorneys, told the Register. "Our goal is that he is in pads Friday night."

Eligibility appeals normally go through the IHSAA Executive Board before being presented to an administrative law judge. That first step can take up to 25 days.

Bruce's attorneys want to skip that first step and go straight to court in order to get him eligible as soon as possible in a season that has been shortened due to COVID-19.

"Every game that is played until ... the IHSAA Executive Board hears his appeal and makes its ruling is one less game for him to develop and showcase his skills, and any game could be the last of the season given the COVID-19 pandemic," Bruce attorneys wrote in the motion. "It will cause irreparable harm to (Bruce) to miss potentially 1/3 of the season under the best-case scenario, or what could amount to the entire season under the worst-case scenario."

The IHSAA informed Bruce and his mother, Linda Bruce, on Friday morning that Bruce did not meet eligibility requirements to play football this fall. 

Chris Cuellar, the IHSAA's director of communications, told the Register the association cannot comment on ongoing eligibility issues. Bruce's attorneys notified the IHSAA's counsel that they would file this motion Monday morning.

Bruce, who transferred to Ankeny from Olathe North in Olathe, Kansas, a couple weeks ago after his home county postponed fall high school football, told the Register the IHSAA's ruling boiled down to Bruce's family's living situation. Bruce's two younger brothers, who are in sixth and ninth grades, still live in Olathe, and his mom goes back and forth between Ankeny and the Kansas City suburb.

In the motion filed Monday, Bruce's attorneys argue the family meets the "contemporaneous change in parental residence" exception that would make Bruce exempt from the traditional 90-day waiting period to play varsity sports.

"The association apparently read into the exceptions for transfers that it required a total family move, which is not in the rules and is totally inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the rule — especially with the current pandemic," Obermeier told the Register.

Obermeier wonders if Bruce's well-known status as a Hawkeye recruit has played any role in his eligibility being put under the microscope.

“If he was a second-string punter at a smaller school, would this be happening?" he said. "Or is this because he’s a star recruit?”

In a sworn affidavit filed Monday, Linda Bruce said she had planned on moving closer to Iowa City after this year because Arland is set to play his next four seasons at the University of Iowa. She also said she does not currently own a house in Kansas and that, although she travels back to Olathe to see her younger two sons on occasion, she will spend the majority of her time in Ankeny.

Also attached to the motion is a document showing Linda Bruce gave legal guardianship of her two younger sons to her brother before she moved to Ankeny, as well as a copy of the lease she signed when she and Arland moved to Ankeny. (According to the lease, rent is $100 per month. They live in part of another family's house in Ankeny.)

Bruce's transfer to Ankeny was approved by the school district Aug. 21, and he is currently enrolled as a student at Ankeny.

Bruce wasn't the only out-of-state transfer ruled ineligible Week 1. Christian Boivin, a linebacker who transferred to Johnston from Traverse City West in Michigan, was ruled ineligible for the Dragons' game against Urbandale. Sean O'Hara, a lineman who transferred to Southeast Polk from Nazareth Academy in Illinois, was ineligible for the Rams' season-opening win over Waukee.

Why?

"Figuring things out," O'Hara told the Register. 

Meanwhile, other notable out-of-state transfers, such as Valley quarterback Jake Rubley, Valley defensive back Landon Nelson, Southeast Polk receiver Isaiah Emanuel, Clear Creek Amana defensive end Mark Gorbatenko and Waukee receiver Dale Stout, who also transferred from Olathe North in Kansas, were all eligible Friday night.

With Bruce on the sidelines, Ankeny trounced city rival Ankeny Centennial 48-6 in Week 1. The Hawks are set to play Week 2 at Waukee.

Matthew Bain covers recruiting and pretty much anything else under the sports sun for the Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Network.  Contact him at mbain@dmreg.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.

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