Saturday, February 12, 2011

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

4 comments:

str8talk said...

Lets see how the guy does on the field and then we can see how the people who are paid to be experts really know.I have seen too many of these Superstars fizzle out after three or four years.I'm rooting for the kid,he seems to be a good kid.I played many years ago when you could keep a superstar on the field who had academic shortcomings but today the NCAA is on top of things and you can't get away with the same things.Again I understand what sells newspapers.

Anonymous said...

Grades do matter!

Anonymous said...

Anon at 10:39: There are still some places where grades don't matter. The schools let kids slide through because of their potential. It does no one any good but that's they way of the world in college athletics. I hope Mr. Clowney qualifies and takes the academic side of college as seriously as the athletic side.

Anonymous said...

SKIP COLLEGE - WHAT A WASTE

GO PRO WHERE GRADES DONT MATTER

THE PANTHERS NEED DEFENSE

PLAY LOCAL AND LIVE IN ROCK HILL