I understand that...and clearly I'm not expressing my point very well. (Sorry!)
I don't think that the university looks bad here, at all. In fact, I don't think the university should have paid for his summer classes. But, that's a separate issue.
I'm thinking that the player involved wanted to find a way to have this school year paid for - that this was a strategy for him. So, in the spring, he was told that he may not have a scholarship in the fall (and, he said he couldn't pin Wilcox down about it for months). Obviously, the player read the writing on the wall that he, ultimately, would NOT receive a scholarship for this school year. This is something we all agree on - that Wilcox would not know for sure if he would be able to give ANY walk-on a scholarship for this year until fall camp - when Wilcox is able to see exactly how many players transfer in/out, come in from junior colleges, are super talented new walk-ons, if there are season-ending injuries (such as with Gentle), etc. Keep in mind, in the past, Wilcox has announced which walk-ons would receive scholarships for the upcoming school year at the end of fall camp.
So, I think that, perhaps, before the player involved was actually "officially" told this information (that there were no scholarships for the walk-ons this year), he thought that he could take advantage of the "players can opt out without losing their scholarship" thing. In other words, I think he thought that IF he announced that he was opting out before he was "officially" told that he would not receive a scholarship (during fall camp), he could argue that because he "opted out" in the spring, the university should pay for his classes this year. (Emphasis added just for clarity)
To be clear, I do not agree with this at all. I know he did not have a guaranteed scholarship for this school year. I'm just saying that I believe he knew that, ultimately (by fall camp), the walk-ons would be officially told that there weren't enough scholarships this fall for walk-ons. As a result, he thought that if he opted out, say, in April, he could argue (in the fall) that the university is refusing to pay for this school year/is punishing him because he opted out months ago. I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well so that it makes sense, or not? (BG??)
I think it's a clever attempt by him. BUT, I think that if anyone looks bad here, it is he - NOT the university. And, frankly, I don't even think he looks "bad" (other than the fact that he went to the press about it.) I also think most athletes would at least give it a try and see if the university would pay for this year - especially since he's worked his butt off for so many years.