our local area is losing one of the top linebackers to IMG Academy. The kid left Buckhorn at the semester and is already enrolled at IMG. Has a kid ever been academically ineligible at this place? There's some rumblings and hand wringing that IMG will began to just steal kids from around the country and thus ruining small town football in this state, and in others. This area produces some pretty bad ass defensive talent. You may remember Rolondo McClain, a Decatur HS product, starting for 3 years (including his freshman year) at MLB. He was an absolute monster and dominated college football for his 3 seasons. Tonight, you'll see local boy from nearby Madison (Bob Jones HS), Reggie Ragland playing MLB for the Tide. This year, there's a kid going to Miss State who played for Florence (JOCO saw them) as well as the Junior who is going to IMG. The level of football here is very high. Having a kid picked off each year won't really impact the quality of football played in my opinion. My brother in law Grady just gushed about the overall speed and quality tackling. (poor tackling is sacrilege and a missed tackle will get you jerked off the field in a heart beat). What I don't get is 'why?'. From what I understand, IMG isn't eligible to play in the state playoffs. They have this impressive list of 'alumni and trainees' with the latter part really being a bit of ********. The top player listed is Cam Newton (who played HS football in GA at Westlake), who probably attended a camp there but didn't attend the school. Lumping campers and alumni together is just one of their slick marketing tactics. They have NFL level facilities. It seems like one big scam for IMG Talent Agency to set up a barely legal hook into players before they even know what their college major would be. I guess they play a 'national schedule' but we don't see them in these parts. They play some FL teams, DeSoto, TX, a couple of Catholic schools from NJ (Bergan and Paramus), and some Christian school from Maryland. In my opinion, if you're playing a real national schedule than I want to see teams like Concord De La Salle, Long Beach Poly, Mater Dei, Bishop Amat, St John Bosco, or Bishop Montgomery from the west. There's several others I could list but those programs have proven themselves against all comers over the years. In these parts, you have Hoover, Bob Jones, Clay Chalkville, Spanish Fort etc... Hell, that whole Mobile region is just incredibly deep. The Region my son plays in literally does not have a bad team. Since the realignment, the last place team the past 2 years has been Athens. That's a very proud program with a long tradition of placing players at top programs. IMG may run the table with their national schedule, but I'd bet a lot of money they couldn't run the table in my son's region, let alone division. So here we have this bandit program propped up by sports agents, and all of their selling points are athletic based. Do these kids even go to class? They finished top ranked in the state without ever really competing against a real league or playoff. The barnstorm some areas and names, but I see zero 'big dog' programs on their slate. I guess all this rambling to say is.... 1. How is this legal? 2. Are there real academics being studied? and 3. How is a 'scholarship' to their boarding school paid for by a marketing/sports representation agency not equate into an improper benefit?
I've wondered this myself, they play 9 or 10 games a year. They do travel, they came to Texas this past fall and played DeSoto which is a pretty good program, and they played Bergen Catholic a well known NJ power. They don't play on the West Coast though. Here's their schedule page link https://www.imgacademy.com/2015-football-season I'm guessing that the attractiveness of it has to do with the focus on football training from supposedly top rated coaches/trainers/etc and not just in football but in other sports as well. I can't speak to their quality of education, but if this is what the kids have to have to graduate then it's not a place to go and slip by. Graduation Requirements For the Graduating Class of 2013 – 2014 and beyond, at least 20 of the 22 credits must be academic credits, which include the following: English 4 Credits Math 4 Credits Science 3 Credits (*must include Biology and Chemistry) Social Sciences* 3 Credits (*must include one credit of American History) Foreign Language 2 Credits Visual/Performing Arts 1 Credit Academic Electives 3 Credit The remaining two credits may be non-academic courses including physical education, health, and vocational courses. Credits are earned and GPA is calculated after each semester. Bottom line there are a lot of these places now, more for sports like Basketball and golf and tennis but IMG does baseball and others as well. The attraction has to be working education around your sport not the other way around, facilities, instructors, etc probably very good. Rules probably much different in terms of when, and how long you can work on your sport. It's a growing trend. I doubt if it'll ever have much of an impact on local sports beyond a kid or 2 leaving once in awhile. Heck illegal recruiting, which is what PSL's complain Catholic Leagues do all the time, have more impact.
T, I agree, but I am really wondering about the validity of the academic side. Their schedule is so so. When you click on the link, the best team they played was from New Orleans. I've become quite familiar with high school football in Dixie and I'm saying that I'll believe in them a bit more when I see them in Metro Atlanta, metro Birmingham, Huntsville or Mobile, Alabama. There's a few programs in TN on the rise, but there's still a gap there. Heck, one of their wins was a forfeit.
This is the football version of the basketball prep schools (Huntington Prep in WVA, LaLumiere in IN, etc.). It obviously serves as an academic preparatory school and a showcase for top tier HS talent. It stands out because it's the first of its kind in football. The basketball prep schools have been around for years. I'm aware of many top BB talents here in Indiana who left their hometown high schools for nationally oriented prep schools.
Well of course they don't like it..... http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/recruiting-acc-and-sec-out-to-kill-satellite-camps-again/article_5ef406f6-b978-11e5-9324-9f658a43f939.html
I found out how much it costs to go to IMG for football, 73K/year. Also on another board this was discussed and one guy who claims knowledge of the academy, says academics is no joke. FWIW I was told if you go there for golf it's 83K. Tony Jones Jr, RB in 2016 class is from IMG Spencer Perry S in 2016 class is from IMG So ND accepts their credits, so it must be legit academically
It's a prep school. Academics are prioritized at prep schools for both BB and FB. Think about it. If IMG wants to grow its stable of professional athletes, it's imperative to make sure they can get admitted to college and get the grades necessary to stay in school. As far as the cost, I would guess that the students pay little or nothing to attend. IMG is sucessful enough to foot the bill. I question the $73-83,000 per year. ND is around $60,000. Someone is throwing out highly inflated numbers.
Well now... I'll have a better perspective on this. One of my son's longtime friends, Asa Martin, has transferred from local Austin HS and is attending IMG Academy. When the kids talk, they always have the same thing to say, which tells me they've been fed a script. I tell ya, if this place is so great, why do they need 3 kids from the same league here in North Alabama? This will mean that their best defensive player Ignot, and their best offensive player, Martin, are from the same league and live about 20 miles apart....but they have to go to Florida to play real competition? That schedule is not that tough. It's not easy, but it's not as tough as it is being sold. Since they are recruiting these kids, maybe we'll be lucky enough for them to put one of our teams on their 'national' schedule.
BTW, I know they were told that academics 'would not be an issue.' Take that, however you will. Think about it, they aren't the famous IMG Academy if their players are ineligible....
Yes, IMG players are all over the Country in NCAA football. From what I can gather it's not a mill that kids are hearded through and academics given lip service .
KP, As Terry said, they are accepted and there are IMG players all over the country. There have been a few that are 'less than poster boy' who have gone there, but as T pointed out, it isn't proven that they are a mill either. All I can go on is what my son brings back to me now, as he was good friends with the kid. Remember Carson has played on the Decatur side of town his whole life (except for his 2 year stint at Decatur American for Dixie Boys baseball), however, he has lived on the Austin side of town from the time he was 9 until his mother's passing. He's friends with quite a few guys over there including your new LT They spent the past several years trying to convince him to play at Austin instead of Decatur. I'm sure Austin will be just fine, they have a lot of great athletes. It does suck a bit because the TB position at the middle school was taken by Asa even when he was in the 7th grade. They started him on the varsity at TB his freshman and sophomore years. They really haven't been developing another RB, but they are going to have to now. As I said though, they've got a bunch of athletes so I am sure they'll find a good one.. just not legit DI SEC TB good.
Corey, yeah I would just hate to see a good kid go to IMG only to find out that they have courses that the NCAA won't accept.
I had a buddy who played for Colorado back in the day in which they were a title contender. He had a 4.0 GPA, and was student body president. He had to sit out a year because he couldn't produce a qualifying SAT/ACT score. There's a lot of shady high schools out there. I doubt anyone will call them into question. I just want to know if they've ever had a player not make grades. (something that happens everywhere)