To add to the clusterf#@k going on this year with the NCAA clearinghouse, prep schools, etc., I recently learned that the SEC adopted a rule during the middle of this summer that now requires certain high profile recruits, who attend prep school, complete eligibility requirements late in the process, etc. to be cleared by the SEC Commissioner and the School's Administration ---this is in addition to NCAA Clearinghouse approval.
I am pretty certain this process will apply to Powe (UM), Keiland Williams (LSU), and other highly rated recruits who fit the criteria for the new SEC rule.
So, IF Powe makes it past the NCAA Clearinghouse, he will then have to be approved by the UM Adm. and the SEC. This extra level of review is apparently designed to prevent the admission of any athlete into an SEC school who has significant issues with the credibility of their transcripts, etc. And it apparently puts at least some of the responsibility for the eligibility certification/approval back with the school, in the event improprieties are later discovered. I cannot find the full text of the new rule anywhere ---it must be top secret.
While I understand and appreciate the intent of the new rule, there appears to be more than a possibility for abuse of this rule if other competing schools are allowed to have any say in the matter with the SEC Commissioner.
With the NCAA Clearinghouse backed up with pending reviews of athletes all over the country, this extra process established by the SEC will only serve to even further delay the eligibility of recruits. If the recruits do not make it past this new SEC required review, then they could not be admitted into ANY other SEC school, but they could be admitted into any non-SEC school, since they would have already cleared the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Thus, for example, if this new SEC rule turns out to be the end of Powe's admission to UM, he could immediately go to any other school outside the SEC, be admitted, and be playing football this fall for that school. And IF such happens to Powe, that is exactly what I expect will happen.