ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of Central Florida's men's basketball season starts Saturday as the Knights head to North Carolina to face off against Davidson, but they could be without their tallest player.
Tacko Fall, an African native, came to the states just a few years ago, and his ineligibility is making headlines across the nation.
At 7 feet 6 inches tall, Fall can do some pretty incredible things on the basketball court, and while he would like to play professionally someday, he has other dreams that are off the court.
"I want to be a biochemist," Fall told CBS News in 2014.
But all of that could be on hold -- if not indefinitely -- as he remains entangled in controversy surrounding his academic eligibility.
According to ESPN, the NCAA will only accept 7 1/2 courses that Fall completed in high school, which makes him ineligible to practice and play with the Knights.
Fall came to the United States from Senegal in 2013. He bounced around different high schools in the southeast before landing a Liberty Christian Preparatory School in Tavares.
His host mother says he had a 3.6 GPA his final two years at the school, which was a big reason he was accepted into UCF's engineering program.
The NCAA claims that Liberty Christian Prep isn't certified, but school officials told News 6 Wednesday they have had several students become NCAA athletes.
Students at UCF hope their tall classmate will soon be on the court.
"I know a lot of people who haven't been able to play because they're missing a certain credit," said Johanna Larsson. "Of course it sucks because you want to be here to be able to play and go to school."
Fall's host family told News 6 they plan on suing the NCAA if they don't grant him an academic waiver.