Another feel good success story

Thanks for answering with civility....both Tom and Cindy.

I only brought up the "non-academic" team that featured Henry because he was the prior example I used and that is what came up on Google when you put in Travis Henry and academics.

It is recruiting season again of course and over the years Florida has "lost" some pretty good talent that finds it's way to other schools supposedly because they were told they had no chance at Florida academically.....and I suspect PJ could be one of those but I am not certain of that.

Last year it was the freshman phenom at West Virginia.....Noel Devine.

W Va has almost an open door admisssions policy I have read.

Of course once a superstar status kid is "directed" away from Florida because of academics he would never demean his actual final choice by saying publicly that " I really wanted to go to Florida but they said I couldn't".

 

You know there is actually two feel good stories in that article, Gerald Williams being the other one. He's another one who has taken the necessary steps to get into Tennessee since not being able to qualify earlier.

 

MCG Notre Dame has in the past and will in the future lose some talent to UF because they don't qualify academically for ND. I just wish UF would raise it's academic standards, it's not fair that we may have to play you someday and your team will be composed of some individuals who are not academically up to snuff.

 

Bill....UF has had a few, probably very few top players that wanted to be Gators so bad that they opted for JC first instead of just signing on with another Div 1 school whose admission policies were not as tough as Florida's.

One of these kids was Reggie Nelson.

Reggie I believe could have signed on and played early at many schools around the country but his buddy Joe Cohen was accepted at Florida and Reggie toughed it out at the JC route so he could join him.

Can happen....but I'll bet the more frequently traveled route is to another school with more liberal admissions.

 

Which ones might that be Terry?

I am sure it is true....but I would like to know exactly who that is?

 

MCG, Terry is making a point that could theoretically happen, geez guy lighten up and understand what we are all telling you.

 

Try Jeremey Finch the kid from Indiana, we were unable to recruit him because of poor academics. John Brown also could not be recruited by ND for academic reasons. Also throw in any JUCO that you guys have ever taken, we don't take JUCO's they are usually academically deficient comming out of HS and JUCO might make them qualify for the NCAA and UF but not likely for ND. Also while Bill has said you are reducing/eliminating the oversigning to compensate for those who don't get in, no kid would be able to sign at ND unless they had already passed admissions. In the past UF would overrecruit to compensate for kids who won't qualify.

 

"In the past UF would overrecruit to compensate for kids who won't qualify."


You have to be talking about FSU with that quote. :shock:

On Finch...he was a Michigan commitment who did a flip flop to Florida just before signing day.

Supposedly he recruited Florida more than the Gators recruited him.

Where does ND fit into that equation?

John Brown is from Lakeland, Florida and several of his high school teammates are Gators. It stands to reason he might have wanted to be a Gator also but you are correct on his academics not being of Notre Dame quality.....I'm just not sure he would have preferred the Irish over Florida anyway given the other circumstances.

But I do understand your point.[/quote]

 

Sorry MCG but it is true that in the past Florida over recruited to compensate for players who might not qualify. In fact both Zook and Spurrier did that.

Meyer is not doing it and I am not sure if it's by his choice or school policy.

What Meyer has done is remove the offer if qualifying is questionable. I like the new way better, but Terry is correct.

 

The whole argument is silly, MCG wants to jump on Tenn because there are different academic requirements from Fla but is somewhat indignent when anybody says there are other schools who's academic requirements are possibly better than UF's.

Like I said before, it's a good thing that every school doesn't have Stanfords or other highly selective schools academic requirements to be admitted to play football. It's better for all that there are a lot of different situations that allow lower achieving kids to also have a shot at an education even if it's only a short one before they leave for the NFL.

 

I never would argue that ND and Florida have identical admission requirements for football players.

I don't think the two clash that often however and I don't believe that lower academics nets Florida players over ND because mainly UF's requirements are pretty stiff also.

The thing on Tenn is that they are an SEC conference member and I think that the conference should keep it's members all in line with regard to admission requirements if possible in the interest of fair competition.

 

Why should it only be within a conference, why not throughout the NCAA and /or the BCS?

Does Vanderbilt have higher standards than UF with regards to who can be admited to play football? If they do, then shouldn't UF be forced to raise their standards to meet Vanderbilts?

 

But Terry, that just doesn’t fit the agenda. Vandy isn’t getting any of the players that MCG wants. He wants these players, and then because UF decided to ignore SEC guidelines and set their own standards, he wants to deny those players a chance at Tennessee. Tennessee is the key word here. “I don’t want them because they are too stupid to attend my school… but I don’t want Tennessee to have them either.”

 

I think Vandy should relax their admissions to meet Florida's and the rest of the conference should raise theirs if necessary.

There has to be a happy medium and same conference conformity and I don't feel it should be all across the board as potentially it is now in the SEC.

No...I don't think the NCAA as a whole is set up well for this but maybe the NCAA guidelines for BCS schools should be examined, especially those with commonly referred to "open door" admissions policies.

Why should W Va play in a BCS bowl when maybe their star running back is more suited academically for Appalachian State than he is a major BCS school like W Va.?

That doesn't seem fair to the rest of the BCS bowl aspiring programs to me.

 

8) 8) 8)

 

Guys, we might as well face it. In most cases, major college football is a minor league for the NFL. Some of those who are not good enough to make it in the pro game get a degree and are able to carve out a handsome living for themselves that they may have otherwise never had the opportunity for. Those few who are able to improve the outcome of their life are worth bearing the many who take advantage of the system with no intention of ever furthering themselves academically. There comes a time when you have to call a spade a spade. If major college football was about academics then Duke, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and Stanford would be the powerhouses.

 

I've been resisting the urge to post but have to here.

That's an interesting comment above MCG. Seems you think the football world, at least the SEC football world, should rotate around the Gators. Like in the old days when most people thought the sun rotated around the earth.

The NCAA sets the standard, individual conferences and schools can set standards a higher if they want. The Gators have chosen to be a bit higher than the SEC norm which is a bit higher than the NCAA. What I don't understand is why you think the compromise is to the Gator standard.

The simple fact is that the Gators are not having any problem recruiting talent and what your plan would do is make less talent available so the end result might be more competition for the players we get now.

You know all you have to do is look around the internet a little bit to find out that there's a lot of fans of other schools who don't like some of the things the Gators do, like recruit to closing day even if the player is a verbal elsewhere. There's even a my space site accusing Meyer of being unethical.

I could say more, but will just close with, this is a great time to be a Gator, we are loaded with young talent and are going to have another top 5 recruiting class. The future is bright. Even if we wanted a player going elsewhere we don't have room.

Look at the bright side and give other programs the same opportunity.

 

FWIW, I think that what's getting lost in MCG's comments is that the football programs have nothing to do with the schools' admissions standards. It's safe to say that football players do not compete with other applicants for admission at any school, including ND, and football players must meet the school's criteria regarding the potential to graduate. Beyond that, very few head coaches, especially in high-profile conferences like the SEC, bend the rules to recruit players who can't be admitted. I ask the question, why would they waste their time, other than to steer a potential scholarship player to a juco to "brush up" their academic eligibility?

I don't have a problem with any coach or school who gives young men a chance to improve their lives through football scholarships. The caveat to any situation is that you can't predict character in the recruiting and admissions process. In this regard, there will be many winners and a few losers. ND has experienced the negative side of the character issue. So have Florida, Tennessee, and most other programs, regardless of their relative admissions standards.

This means that the only logical way to read MCG's digs at Tennessee is to consider them mean-spirited. But don't forget his original proclamation.......He's just curious, not trying to start an argument.

 

Shocking.....MCG mean-spirited? Shocking I tell you.....I'm dumbfounded at the mere suggestion. Typically he has nothing but the best of intentions in mind.....just ask him!

:lol: :lol:

 

I continue to be amazed! Or as one of my old Masterchiefs said "I'm bedazzled"