The Xavier Lucas drama takes another turn, this time with Miami filing a motion

Nov 30, 2024; Syracuse, New York, USA; Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal looks on prior to the game against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
Nov 30, 2024; Syracuse, New York, USA; Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal looks on prior to the game against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

The Xavier Lucas saga has about as many turns and twists in it as a ride at an amusement park. The latest wrinkle is that Miami is now filing a motion to dismiss the Xavier Lucas lawsuit that was put forth by Wisconsin earlier this summer. Pete Nakos of On3.com says that Miami is hoping the dismissal will put the whole mess behind them.

Mario Cristobal and Xavier Lucas are carrying on in training camp as usual while lawsuits hang over them from Wisconsin

The story starts with Xavier Lucas signing a new agreement to play for Wisconsin for his sophomore season. Then, behind the scenes, he heard that Miami would pay him more to come back to his home state and play for the Hurricanes. Then he tried to transfer. This sort of thing happens a lot, but Wisconsin felt they had a binding agreement with Lucas, and Miami clearly tampered.

Wisconsin decided not to let him transfer and wouldn't file his transfer paperwork. Lucas and his lawyer Darren Heitner took things into their own hands, and Lucas unenrolled from Miami as a student, walked on at Miami (sort of), and got his new contract after all.

That fired up the Big Ten and Wisconsin enough to file a lawsuit against Miami, as it's about as cut and dry of tampering as you can get. It was time, in each of those entities' minds, to finally make a stand against blatant tampering that never goes punished.

Now, the latest wrinkle is that Miami is asking to dismiss it. Heitner, Lucas' lawyer, is stating that the only wrong that was committed was by Wisconsin, which failed to file his transfer paperwork as they were supposed to.

It's now at the point that the courts are going to have to figure out which rules need to be enforced and to what level, as it's clearly going to be the example for so many future cases, as even Heitner mentions in his statement posted online.