IOWA CITY, Iowa – This is my second column in a little over a month about the ridiculous amount of time that defensive end Drew Ott has spent waiting for a decision on his medical hardship appeal.

Some things are worth repeating.

The fact that Ott has waited for over four months for a final decision on his appeal for a fifth year of eligibility makes me wonder if the NCAA should stand for No Clue At All because the circumstances are absurd.

They’d be laughable if the case wasn’t so maddening and frustrating.

Ott can’t be referred to as an Iowa defensive end or as a former Iowa defensive end because right now he is neither.

His life has been on hold for the entire spring semester for reasons we’ll probably never know because the NCAA is hush, hush about everything.

You’d think world peace was being negotiated, given how long the process has taken and how it’s buried so deep in secrecy.

Iowa defensive line coach Reese Morgan broke some news on Wednesday, saying Ott’s appeal already has been denied several times, but the process is still ongoing.

“The thing you feel bad for is Drew,” Morgan said at a press conference. “He has no control over it. We don’t have any control over it so we can’t worry about it. Even if he was healthy, he wouldn’t be practicing this spring. So it provides an opportunity for some of our younger guys to get some reps.

“I feel bad for him because it’s been denied several times. He has an appeal in again and the process just seems to be extremely frustrating because no one from the NCAA has talked to anybody in this building about it or him, which seems to be unusual.”

There is nothing the NCAA could say at this point that would justify a decision taking this long.

All they’re deciding is whether Ott deserves a fifth season of eligibility after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the sixth game against Illinois last season.

Ott’s case is unique because he participated in more than the maximum 30 percent of Iowa’s games to qualify for a medical hardship. But he also injured his elbow against Iowa State in the second game and played in just two full games last season.

But just because Ott’s case is unique doesn’t mean a final ruling should take this long. It’s not rocket science.

“He’s written appeals,” Morgan said. “He has communicated. Our compliance people are going back and forth trying to help out. But, yeah, it’s hard and you feel for him, because he just wants to know. He just wants to know, can I get an agent? Can I continue to play? What am I able to do?

The NCAA should take a long, hard look at itself and realize that its process for dealing with medical hardship cases is seriously flawed at the expense of the student-athlete. Nobody should have to wait for as long as Ott has waited for what really seems like a simple decision.

You either deny his appeal because he played in more than the maximum 30 percent of Iowa’s games, or you make an exception with him due to the extenuating circumstances.

It seems like the kind of decision that could be made in an hour or two by a group of well-educated and well-informed NCAA committee members.

The facts in the case certainly haven’t changed since Ott filed his initial appeal more than four months ago.

And yet, Ott’s life still is in limbo.

He can’t even participate in any team activities this spring because he isn’t considered a member of the Iowa team at this stage.

Ott was allowed to attend the NFL Combine last month. But he still was recovering from knee surgery. It’s also hard to know if Ott’s heart was really in it because he would prefer to stay in college.

You would think the NCAA would embrace Ott’s desire to return to college, considering how many student-athletes, ready or not, leave school early these days to pursue a professional career.

The NCAA would look even worse than it does now if it ultimately denies Ott’s appeal. It’s bad enough making Ott wait this long.

But to make him wait and then deny his request would be inexcusable.