{"id":942234,"date":"2026-07-11T01:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/942234\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T01:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:00:20","slug":"ncaa-denies-sixth-year-waiver-for-msus-james-blackstrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/942234\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA denies sixth-year waiver for MSU’s James BlackStrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Missouri State wide receiver James BlackStrain did not receive a waiver for a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, the school confirmed Friday, and is no longer on the Bears\u2019 2026 roster.<\/p>\n

MSU said it is continuing to pursue waiver possibilities for BlackStrain, who participated in spring drills for the Bears after being one of the team\u2019s primary pass-catchers the previous two seasons.<\/p>\n

BlackStrain transferred to MSU in 2024 from Georgia Tech and was an immediate contributor. He was named to the 2024 All-Missouri Valley Newcomer Team after totaling 24 receptions for 368 yards and three touchdowns among a deep and balanced group of receivers that helped the Bears finish 8-4 in their year in their final Football Championship Subdivision.<\/p>\n

After missing multiple games with a thumb injury in 2025, BlackStrain made six starts and in 11 appearances. He caught 22 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown, helping the Bears go 7-5 in their Conference USA and FBS debut and reach the Xbox Bowl.<\/p>\n

At Georgia Tech, BlackStrain appeared in one game in 2023. As a redshirt freshman in 2022, he appeared in six games with one start against Duke. He redshirted his true freshman season in 2021.<\/p>\n

The Florida native reportedly missed <\/a>the 2023 and 2021 seasons at Georgia Tech due to injury. A four-star recruit, per 247 Sports, BlackStrain also missed his junior year of high school due to injury.<\/p>\n

BlackStrain graduated from Missouri State in December and is pursuing a post-graduate certificate in nonprofit leadership.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Collingwood\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Ryan Collingwood is the sports editor and Missouri State University athletics beat writer for the Springfield Daily Citizen. He can be reached at rcollingwood@sgfcitizen.org or by phone at 417-837-3660. More by Ryan Collingwood<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To read this story, please sign in with your email address and password. You\u2019ve reached your limit of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[18913,14394,9210,7,3023,124819,38909,11301,106619,49,48,21253,87618],"class_list":["post-942234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-247-sports","tag-conference-usa","tag-duke-university","tag-football","tag-georgia-tech","tag-james-blackstrain","tag-missouri-state-football","tag-missouri-state-university","tag-missouri-valley-conference","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-public","tag-xbox-bowl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116898642304568007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}