Another feel good success story

From living in the back of his car after academic suspension, Demetrius Morley picked himself up and is now back on track.

Demetrius Morely is back!

 

At one time all three of those players were committed to the Gators and Morley is one of the players that got his diploma from that school in Miami that was shut down when their methods were exposed by an article in the NY Times.

I'm sure that Morley's academic shortcomings had a lot to do with getting a diploma from that diploma mill that he didn't earn so he was not really a student.

Now before anyone thinks I'm coming down on this kid let me finish. He took a shortcut and couldn't cut it in college, however he left and took stock of himself and pulled himself up from a really difficult situation.

You know it's the measure of a person isn't the mistakes they make in life, but what they learn from those mistakes and can they make something of themselves.

This kid did and I'm all for him, good luck Dee Morley, you have earned your stripes and I wish you good luck and expect we will see you in the NFL one day.

Just don't play all that well against the Gators. :lol: :lol:

Same for Gerald Williams, his route to Tennessee has been very difficult but he has the desire also so good luck to both, in fact all three, of these Florida kids.

Thanks for the article Tom.

 

It's always good to see kids have a light bulb go off and get a second chance and even better if they make the most of the 2nd chance. Hope he does!

 

Amen, Bill.

 

Tom,

I know you have in essence answered this question before but what is it specifically about Tenn's entrance requirements that attracts kids like this in the first place.

I am just curious and not trying to start an argument.

Travis Henry....who at this point doesn't seem like the brightest bulb...is another one.

What is the real deal?

 

I don't know if the requirements are any different from any other SEC school. Maybe Coach Fulmer just has optimism about being able to give these kids a leg up. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

 

There are minimum requirements by the NCAA, then conferences can add a few of their own, then individual schools. I don't think that Tennessee's requirements are quite as tough as Florida's, but they meet NCAA and SEC standards and that's all that can be asked.

In Dee Morley's case he got a diploma from a school that was legal when he got it, but s not longer a validAs school to get a diploma from. In fact they are now out of business I believe. There were a number of schools that had players with diploma's from the school in question, including the Gators.

I think Cindy is very gracious in her answer as I think asking what is it about Tennessee that attracts kids like this. In the first place this kid has turned his life around and that's a good thing and what should be celebrated in this case.

I don't think I would want to get into an argument with anyone about the brightest bulbs as I think we could find a few examples at all of our schools.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!

 

Travis Henry has fathered 9 kids by 9 different women.

Travis was listed on a highschool All Non-Academic team I pulled up while researching him and the rest of that "team" has never been heard from since.

UF could not/ would not offer him and of course he helped Tenn win their NC and yeah....that bugs me when he still does not display college level intelligence.

Of course UF has had a few also who probably never belonged at UF but the initial requirements for Florida keep some of these mental midgets out of Florida in the first place.

Here is that team of highschool achievement bottom dwellers:

1997 All Non-Academic Team

QB Attrews Bell, Jacksonville, Fla. FLORIDA STATE WALK-ON
RB Jasper Sanks*, Columbus, Ga. GEORGIA
RB Travis Henry*, Frostproof, Fla. TENNESSEE
RB Kelcey Williams, Humboldt, Tenn.
FB Dom Stevenson Gaffney, S.C. TENNESSEE
WR Brian Scott* Darlington, S.C. SOUTH CAROLINA
WR Anthony Branch Albany, Ga.
OL DeCourye Hampton* Memphis, Tenn. MEMPHIS
OL Jabari Ellison Augusta, Ga. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE
TE Eddie Williams Tallahassee, Fla.
TE Marlon Davis, Eastman, Ga. ALABAMA
DL Willie Sams*, Bradenton, FL
DL Dorsett Davis*, Cleveland, Miss. MISSISSIPPI STATE
DL Cleveland Pinkney, Sumter, S.C. SOUTH CAROLINA
DL Reggie Poole, Cedartown, Ga. GEORGIA
LB Travis Hines, Tanner, Ala. JACKSONVILLE STATE
LB Anthony Maddux, Albany, Ga. FLORIDA STATE
LB Antonio Manning, Fayetteville, Tenn.
LB Stepfon Woods, Cleveland, Tenn.
DB Marcus Blandinburg, LaGrange, Ga.
DB Armark Tolbert, Augusta, Ga. GEORGIA TECH
* denotes All-American in at least one publication

 

You know what MCG, I just really don't understand why you have to bring this stuff into a topic that is truly a feel good story about a young man that has turned his life around.

I don't get why you are researching anything about Travis Henry in this topic and putting a damper on what Dee Morley has done.

 

You're right Bill it is a revisit to an old debate.

I do wonder why we keep seeing these guys at Tenn that cannot cut the initial requirement at Florida.

It seems to me in fairness that all things should be exactly equal in the SEC when it comes to recruiting and admission requirements.

 

Well they are not the same in the SEC at all schools. Be careful what you wish for, if we were to make everyone in the SEC the same then they might pick Vandy as the standard and we would have to pass on a lot of players that we now take.

Then we could expand that to every NCAA school should be the same and we might have to conform to Notre Dame's standards, or worse to Harvard's standards.

Be careful what you wish for.

Let's discuss Travis Henry a little more. The Gators wanted him bad but in the judgment of Admissions he would not get qualified at Florida so we got off him. Tennessee on the other hand was not sure he would qualify either but they stuck with him in case he did.

As I recall, and I believe I am right, Henry ended up qualifying and would have been qualified to go to Florida also, but since Tennessee stuck with him he honored his word and went to Tennessee even though Florida gave him a late run.

So if my memory is correct, and I think it is, character is not the reason the Gators didn't offer, it was because we didn't think he would qualify, which in the end was wrong.

Again be careful passing judgment, or maybe better, avoid throwing stones when you might live in a glass house.

 

NCAA has their min requirements, if an athlete meets those he's entitled to play. If you raise those min requirements you are going to eliminate a lot of kids who are terrific football players but just so-so students.

Do you want the rest of the NCAA, including UF to impose the same standards voluntarily that ND, Stanford, Northwestern, etc have? Is that what you want?

I'm glad that there are schools who will give the kids a chance, sometimes they aren't worthy of it and don't do squat with their academics but at least they got a chance. I wouldn't want the NCAA to raise the standards from where they are. Although you do know that standards have been slowly creeping up. At one time ND required more core courses than the NCAA min, but the NCAA has been boosting that up and going forward the whole NCAA will have 16 core courses required.


Terry

 

I guess it's great that kids can get a chance somewhere else when the first choice excludes them academically.

I think though if a kid is interested in Florida and he is from Florida then he should be as available to Florida as he is to any other SEC school.

There is a similar deal right now with Patrick Johnson but it could be that he cheated on his ACT and is having to retake the test. If that's what happened then LSU can have him but really...why should he be playing at another SEC school?

In Morely's case I would guess he never had a ghost of a chance to be accepted at Florida and that message was conveyed by the Florida coaches well ahead of signing day. Just my guess....

 

Be careful accusing someone of cheating if you don't have the evidence to back it up. Patrick Johnson's ACT score jumped from 16 two times to a 22 and it got flagged. Being flagged does not mean he cheated, it means it is questionable and yes he's taking it again right now. Also he has graduated from High School and is trying to be an early entry.

We do not know that Florida turned him down in fact all indications I have is that we did want him. However like some other players we have had the score would have been flagged no matter where he went and he would have to take the test over.

All indications with this kid is that he wants to go to LSU, we'll see shortly whether he passes this next test or not.

I happen to agree 100% with what Terry says and we will have to trust our coaches that they can find players that are good, can qualify at Florida and want to go to Florida. Urban Meyer is doing a fine job of that and I think we need to be very careful passing judgment on kids that go elsewhere, it just might be they don't want to be Gators.

 

The requirements are set by the NCAA and the SEC. IF Florida wants to conduct business on a higher standard than that which is required, that is their choice. You can't have it both ways MCG. You can't complain that you don't get the ones you want while bragging that you are better than everyone else because your self imposed standards are higher that that required.

 

My thoughts exactly. And who publishes a non-academic team? And to what purpose?

 

I might add and why would we drag one up from 1997, especially in a feel good topic about a person who has moved their life in a good direction.

 

MCG
I don't know why I answered you. And being nice while doing it just allowed you to look deeper for a reason to turn this topic about a kid who seems to be turning things around to a topic to bring up any possible problems Tennessee has... again. I have two words for you... Sour Grapes. :?

 

Easy, folks. Remember..................

Darndest form of curiosity I've ever seen.