Powe 86'd by NCAA

[Greenhead22]

All of us already knew this was going to happen, rebs were just in denial.

NCAA review committee denies Jerrell Powe
Premium Story
Jerrell Powe
By Yancy Porter
Mississippi Scout
Posted Aug 26, 2006

Jerrell Powe (DT, Waynesboro, MS0 - One of the most highly-rated recruit in Ole Miss modern football history has had his elibigility denied by the NCAA Review Committee that met yesterday. There's not much else to say, but what little there is - read it inside in an official release from Ole Miss Sports Information.

OXFORD, Miss. --Ole Miss head football coach Ed Orgeron announced Saturday that the NCAA has reviewed and denied credentials needed by the Clearinghouse to certify eligibility for freshman signee Jerrell Powe.

"Jerrell will be sorely missed by the Ole Miss Rebel football team," Orgeron said.

Powe, a 6-3, 330-pound defensive lineman from Waynesboro, Miss., originally signed with Ole Miss in 2005, but attended Hargrave Military Academy where he played last season. He re-signed with the Rebels last February.

While playing at Wayne County High, Powe was a Parade All-America selection and played in the U.S. Army All-America Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. He was a three-time All-State pick who was named Mr. Football in the state of Mississippi by The Clarion-Ledger.

[rebelduckaholic]

That is definately no good

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Never fear, the lawyers are here!!!

There is a little "pow wow" going on this morning between Powe's camp (Powe, his mom, his attorney, and the teacher/proctor of the BYU correspondence courses in question) and the NCAA --an appeal of the Friday ruling. The teacher will support the fact that Powe indeed attended and completed the classes on his own.

Will the NCAA reverse its decision? Probably not. But, who knows? Stranger things have happened. A potential lawsuit (ADA based discrimination suit) supported by the ACLU might sway some hearts and minds. The ruling was strictly a subjective judgement call, as opposed to any real objective criteria. 3 of Powe's BYU correspondence classes were questioned due to his completing them in too short of a time frame. Thousands of high school and college students all over the country take these classes every year. The classes are on the up and up, and CAN be legitimately completed in a relatively short period of time. Each class is only worth 1/2 credit. There is no real evidence of any wrongdoing by Powe ---nothing but conjecture.


If you can't prove he cheats, he gots to wear the cleats!!!!!!

[Grommet]

If you can't prove he cheats, he gots to wear the cleats!!!!!!

[rjohnson]

Now why in the world does the ACLU need to have it's nose in this? Play the race card, play the race card!!! Bunch of bullchit!! Given every opportunity and one thing doesn't go their way they play the race card!!

I do hope you get him in on the field but not by playing the d@mn race card!!!

[Deltamud77]

All of this brings up some interesting questions and issues. If you are not capable, for whatever reason (mentally slow, socioeconomic, lazy, whatever) capable of completing legitimate college work, should you be allowed attend college because you are good at football? As we all know, college football is a business and college athletes are the apprentices trying to make it to the League. Academics to many football players at D1 schools are a secondary matter.

I feel for Powe in some ways because he, from what I hear, has some legit learning disabilities. At the same time, he has athletic ability that could potentially earn money for him most of us could only dream of. His problem is that you have to be a student-athlete before you can be a professional athlete when playing football.

From a legal standpoint, I can't see the threat of an ADA lawsuit or an ACLU lawsuit getting Powe on the field this season. It could potentially be a groundbreaking suit for people in his position three to five years from now, but due to the slow pace of litigation, Powe would never derive the true benefit from it in which he likely desires -- the permission to play football for Ole Miss. However, maybe some type of injunction could be sought or some type of order lifting the ruling while the matter is settled.

[SWAG]

Do situations such as this give warrant that a "minor league" for football is a possibility? Made up mainly of high school, jr college, and some four year college atheletes who are still just prep time away from making it in the NFL? If academics are not part of the atheletes plan, maybe going straight to a league out of high school is an option? I know there are some out there, but besides NFL Europe, are there any more that the NFL are a part of? Works well for baseball. Is there no market for such a product? Too much competition from high school and college ballgames? Smaller towns such as Shreveport, Jackson, Birmingham, etc. could have teams, play an eight game season, play in the late Spring/early Summer?

[Po Monkey Lounger]

I think the big problem that UM and the Powes have with the NCAA decision is that it is not based upon any existing rule. There is no rule that says, for instance, that a student athlete cannot complete an approved correspondence course within a week (for example ---I think that is the approximate time that Powe spent on each of the two courses in question ---focusing on one course at a time, completing each chapter/requirements and moving to the next, and finishing by making a sufficient score on the final exam --all of which was proctored on his end by a certified teacher). BYU approved his results. Thousands of other students across the country are allowed to do the same thing, and their test scores are not flagged. So, why Powe?

The NCAA set the rules. Powe has complied with those written rules. He has the core classes and grades and ACT score (certified by the ACT testing body). On paper, he is a qualifier. Now, an NCAA review committee has subjectively determined that he somehow completed the course work in two correspondence classes "too fast". Basically, they are saying, despite any real evidence to back it up, that they don't think Powe did the work --that Powe and the proctoring teacher and BYU are liars.

Any lawsuit would not be based upon race ---so forget the playing of the "race card". The ADA is the "Americans with Disabilities Act" and has nothing to do with race. Powe has a diagnosed learning disability --dyslexia. Many students ---not just college athletes --have a learning disability and are accepted into college every day (ADD, dyslexia, etc. ). The Act requires that reasonable accomodations be made for such people with disabilities ---for example, in the academic world, it often means that tests such as the ACT, SAT, LSAT, GMAT, Bar Exam, etc. can be taken untimed by those with such diagnosed disabilities. ALSO, discrimination in the form of denying Powe, but accepting others with the same credentials would be one of the bases for the suit. Just because Powe has a learning disability does not mean that he could not have done this course work in the time frame he completed it. Trust me, many, many other athletes take these same classes from BYU to obtain eligibility. And many of them have already been approved by the NCAA to play this season.

MSU's Ducre (the transfer from Tulane who is seeking a waiver of the transfer rule to be eligible to play for MSU this season) for instance, completed at least two correspondence courses within two weeks at an institution in Georgia. IF Powe took 6-7 days to complete each of his two classes under question, what is the diff in the timing?

This entire ordeal with Powe has been out of the twilight zone with the NCAA, who appears to be making up the rules as it goes along. If the BYU correspondence courses are bad, then shut them down for everyone. If Hargrave is bad, then deny all Hargrave grads and shut it down. IF the correspondence courses must have minimum time limits for completion, then set forth what those time limits should be. Powe has apparently been chasing an ever moving target with the NCAA on this thing, and it is a sad deal for him and his family.

If the appeal being presented today does not work out, then Powe has two viable options he is considering: 1) the NCAA has told Powe that he can retake the correspondence courses in question and enter UM in December; or 2) he can sign with an agent, and start playing pro ball immediately for the rest of this season in Canada (the CFL is about 1/2 way through its schedule). Under the Canada scenario, he could play the rest of this season, and one full season next year, and then enter the NFL draft the following spring. His mom wants him to get his college degree. All of this should play out this week.

[Deltamud77]

Po Monk,

Have you heard of any other players who took courses at BYU like this that got into their college of choice, names, schools, etc...? This sounds like a worse deal than I initially thought. I also wonder what all the "sliding scale" entails by the Clearinghouse.

From your last post, it does appear that Powe was doomed from the start. There needs to be some bright line standard in place to shoot for with the Clearinghouse in conjuction with NCAA standards.

However, stricty with reference to Powe, it doesn't make too much sense to me that a person with a learning disability can take an entire course in one week's time (however small the course may be). Typically, those with learning disabilities require more time to take a course, not less. Maybe the clearinghouse based their decision on that question. If he went to BYU for these two classes, it also makes you wonder about "forum shopping" so to speak. Granted, nothing precludes one from doing just that. Furthermore, if other athletes passed through the same program and were approved, something is obviously bad wrong.

For Powe and his family's sake, I hope it works out for him -- whatever that means for him.

Something I took for granted with Saban at LSU is the fact, for the most part, LSU didn't have to deal with situations like this because Saban didn't recruit fringe players gradewise. Apparently Les Miles and Big O do and this is what happens.

Would Powe have been a starter had he been on campus?

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Delta, Powe would play immediately at UM. He worked out with the UM team this summer ---he was in excellent shape and moves very well for a big man. He ran 110s in the same general times that our LBs did. He is a special talent.

I believe that LSU's Keiland Williams is one who took courses from BYU. As did one of USC's key recruits. Both of these guys have been cleared.

As far as I know, it is not a problem with the BYU classes. When I said thousands of students take these classes, I should have indicated it is in the tens of thousands. The BYU classes are popular, I suppose, because BYU saw a nitch and got into it before other schools did.

The meeting today was moved to sometime this afternoon. It is my understanding that the meeting was scheduled after the Powe camp spoke to the NCAA Friday after the adverse ruling. The NCAA asked to speak to the teacher/course proctor in response to the issues raised on behalf of Powe. Thus, this thing may not yet be over. BUT, I still don't expect them to change their mind at this point.

IF he really wants to be a UM student athlete, then he can enroll at UM this fall as a regular part-time student (on his own dime) and take 6 hours worth of classes, without jeopardizing any eligibility to play football. While doing that , he could re-take the correspondence courses in question (as suggested by the NCAA) (taking more time, of course, this time around), and enroll at UM in December as a full time student athlete on scholarship, provided he satisfactorily completes the courses. He could then participate in the spring and play next fall.

While he could jump to the CFL, I don't think a 19-20 year old kid is ready for that type of change in lifestyle playing in the pro ranks. Hopefully, mama wins out and he stays the course at UM.

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Well, the NCAA requested yet another document from Powe and delayed the appeal hearing until tomorrow. Thus, there still may be a little hope for Powe. IF they had no intention of changing their mind, why bother with the additional documentation ?---just listen to them and deny the appeal. This whole thing is unbelievable.

[RebelYelp]

on an aside here, it may have been mentioned, but i didnt' feel like reading all of the above....

there is no "standard" for completion times on courses with the NCAA, there is nothing in writing, etc....

[mudsucker]

If you can't prove he cheats, he gots to wear the cleats!!!!!!

If you is too dumb;"STAY HOME"!

[Po Monkey Lounger]

BUT, IF the NCAA has the evidence that he cheated, then he must be de-cleated.

[mudsucker]

BUT, IF the NCAA has the evidence that he cheated, the he must be de-cleated.

BAWHAHAHAHAHAHA!