Clowney to announce, but will he qualify?

The transcendent potential of Jadeveon Clowney and where he will take it next year have long masked the next variable: Will he make his grades?

Thousands of stories, blog posts, tweets and texts have accompanied the recruitment of the country's top high school football player. But none have really addressed whether his academic record is good enough to get him on a college campus next fall.

Until now. (Cue the New York Times theme song, boys.)

Clowney, a defensive end at Rock Hill South Pointe, announces his college decision Monday, his 18th birthday, two weeks after just about every other major recruit went public with his choice. He will pick between South Carolina, Clemson and Alabama. The Gamecocks, however, are the clear favorite, and if Clowney puts on another hat the chicken feathers will fly for months.

Still, the celebration at the winning school could be short-lived should Clowney's grades detour him for a year or more to a junior college or prep school.

That, according to the Times, is more than a mild possibility. Read more here.

Clowney will make his announcement on Monday at 10:15 on ESPN. He is considered by some experts to be the finest football recruit in more than a decade.

MG