"If a school admits a non-qualifier, per NCAA rules the player cannot practice or work out with the team in any capacity and cannot work with the coaches whatsoever for an entire year. The player has to be treated just like any regular student."

Then:

"Given that Pita is practicing with the team, Utah feels that he will get the waiver (likely because of the uniqueness of his case and his GPA/ACT composite)."

You are saying that if a player isn't qualified by the NCAA, he can't practice with the team. Yet two paragraphs later you say that Utah is letting him practice before he gets a waiver. Kind of contradictory, no?

Also - if Utah's requirements are so much more restrictive, why is he at Utah instead of BYU? If that's the case, then academic admission standards for athletes (I assume that's what you mean by "cases like this") have nothing to do with this situation, so this has nothing to do with any of the academic eligibility requirements whatsoever.