[LINK] 5-page report by Pete Thamel and Duff Wilson, NY TImes (free registration required)
Even as the N.C.A.A. presses for
academic reforms, its loopholes are quickly recognized and exploited.
By the end of his junior year at Miami Killian High School, Demetrice
Morley flashed the speed, size and talent of a top college football
prospect. His classroom performance, however, failed to match his
athletic skills.
He received three F's that year and had a 2.09 grade point average
in his core courses, giving him little hope of qualifying for a
scholarship under National Collegiate Athletic Association guidelines.
In
December of his senior year, Morley led Killian to the 2004 state title
while taking a full course load. He also took seven courses at
University High School, a local correspondence school, scoring all A's
and B's. He graduated that December, not from Killian but from
University High. His grade point average in his core courses was 2.75,
precisely what he wound up needing to qualify for a scholarship.
Morley,
now a freshman defensive back for the University of Tennessee, was one
of at least 28 athletes who polished their grades at University High in
the last two years.
The New York Times identified 14 who had
signed with 11 Division I football programs: Auburn, Central Florida,
Colorado State, Florida, Florida State, Florida International, Rutgers,
South Carolina State, South Florida, Tennessee and Temple.
University
High, which has no classes and no educational accreditation, appears to
have offered the players little more than a speedy academic makeover.
Athletes
who graduated from University High acknowledged that they learned
little there, but were grateful that it enabled them to qualify for
college scholarships.
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