UNC Lands Two Players That Clemson Admissions Turns Down

The alternate titles for this entry were “There is a War Brewing in Clemson” or “Can’t Wait to Hear Dave Glenn talk about Carolina’s bad academics”.

It will be interesting if this piece will show up in any of Dave Glenn’s anyalsis after we have heard for the last few years how NC State consistently admits a lower level student-athlete on the football field. There are a lot of upset fans today in Tigertown.

Jones has a 2.25 core GPA and a 670 SAT. He is currently taking three core classes. If he made Bs on each core credit he would have to raise his SAT to an 800. Jones signed with North Carolina, a top 10 public institution, on Wednesday.

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Football Recruiting General

109 Responses to UNC Lands Two Players That Clemson Admissions Turns Down

  1. class of 74 02/08/2007 at 11:43 AM #

    Maybe a return to the days of a minimum 880 SAT for every ACC are in order. Of course USC decided our standards were too high and left the ACC over this. Maybe UNC might decide the same.

    I think the N&O should do a piece on this and the BOG should demand the chancellor’s resignation, terminate the football coach and place recruiting restrictions on the football program for no less than two years and have someone in the Library Sciences department hold Baddour’s hand on how to clean this mess up! But I won’t hold my breath on this playing out in this fashion.

  2. Big Worm 02/08/2007 at 11:46 AM #

    I’m not Dave Glenn conspiracy theorist BUT (anybody care to guess how this ends) DG was on Gold yesterday afternoon discussing the ACC recruiting classes on signing day. Their discussion gravitated towards UNC’s impressive haul on the recruiting trail. Gold then asked DG a pointed question regarding UNC’s signees that was something along the lines of “In the past we’ve discussed the negative impact recruits that commit or sign but later are unable to qualify have on particular teams. Do you see any of those type of recruits in UNC’s recruiting class this year?”

    Given my typical skepticism of those that maintain DG has a PRONOUNCED pro-UNC/anti-NCSU bias, I was rather shocked to hear DG immediately sidestep the question and instead of discussing possible non-qualifiers in UNC’s class turn the question around and simply begin throwing UNC recruits’ names out there that happened to be in GOOD academic standing. He absolutely, positively avoided answering the question AG asked and I can’t help but think that has something to do with this class possibly being one of the most marginal (academically) UNC has taken in recent memory.

  3. noah 02/08/2007 at 11:48 AM #

    Regarding the new rules:

    1) The NCAA is upping their minimum requirements in a few years, so this won’t be as BIG a deal as it is this year.

    2) Just because Carolina signed Jones doesn’t mean he’s been accepted.

    3) You don’t think it’s an accident that we don’t have any Florida kids in this class, do you?

    4) A large number of the kids who get scholarships to ACC schools are kids that had a pretty good idea that they were going to be playing college ball in some sport SOMEWHERE. Yes, there are late bloomers that come out of nowhere, but they are the exception and not the rule. The ones that know they are scholarship-material usually have been working with guidance counsellors on minimum requirements and usually can get their transcripts in order.

    5) Calculus and Physics are the two outliers in Glenn’s scenario. I took geometry as a sophomore and I know folks who took it as freshmen. You can take stats or trig or Alg. III for that last requirement. Two science units just means taking biology as a sophomore and chemistry as a junior. Neither were particularly challenging.

    If I had to guess, I would bet that Davis is going to the admissions board and asking for a one or two year grace period. He’ll have to fight hard, but I would bet that he’s going to say, “Lemme get these guys and then we’ll do it your way. But I’ve gotta get over that initial hump.”

    That’s a guess though.

    My other guess is that Davis said screw it…and just signed the best kids he could find, knowing full-well that the alternative was to sign someone who couldn’t help him at all…so if you’re going to take a risk, take a risk that the illiteratti of the five-star world some how muddle through “Dick and Jane And Spot.”

  4. beowolf 02/08/2007 at 11:51 AM #

    Noah, IF Davis is taking the “screw it” approach, then I would suggest he’s trying to build a quick initial buzz about him to depart for greener pastures — like Mack Brown on an accelerated track.

    That’s a big if, of course.

    Don’t miss that SAT graph I posted above. It’s a doozy.

  5. choppack1 02/08/2007 at 11:56 AM #

    “The next encounter was when he showed up at the reunion game they held at Reynolds a few years ago.”

    Yea – Noah – I saw that game – and it was truly sad to see Washburn at this point. He looked like someone who had been living very hard for several years. But he still had a great handle and could make some shots. His legs were totally gone – no definition whatsoever to his body. I’ve always thought that he was a nice guy – and observed some of his interactions w/ others and it didn’t change that opinion – who just couldn’t say no to the bad things offered to him.

    Big Worm – nice post on Glenn – that’s precisely what I’m talking about. I’d be interested to see if anyone else heard the same interview and what their thoughts were about it.

  6. statered 02/08/2007 at 11:56 AM #

    Out of the “large” system schools only WCU has a lower average incoming SAT score. Wow.

  7. class of 74 02/08/2007 at 11:58 AM #

    All the more reason to say we got the better deal on replacement coaches this year.

  8. noah 02/08/2007 at 11:59 AM #

    I could write chapters on Washburn…but I won’t. He had some severe knee injuries. I dont think he has any cartilage left in one of his knees.

  9. beowolf 02/08/2007 at 12:02 PM #

    statered, which one were you looking at? Not NCSU. Only UNX and UNCA (barely) had higher median incoming SAT scores than NCSU.

  10. redfred2 02/08/2007 at 12:06 PM #

    UNC is listed as number 16 on rivals top twenty five recruiting hauls for the year. With 670 Jones mentioned as one of their “big fish”.

    The “Steve Spurrier Gamecocks” are listed as the number 6 class overall, pretty impressive.

  11. legacyman 02/08/2007 at 12:15 PM #

    And how many incoming frosh did UNC-A have…37? I don’t get this attempt to compare us to a school which hardly has any enrollment.

    Compare our top 500/1000/whatever to UNC-A/s top whatever and we will win, I imagine.

  12. beowolf 02/08/2007 at 12:21 PM #

    I haven’t compared this year’s, legacy, but when you look at in-state enrollent, UNX’s and NCSU’s incoming frosh SAT scores are very, very similar.

    Where UNX gets its advantage is in its greater out-of-state name recognition and demand — UNX attracts a much larger group of OOS applicants from NCSU and therefore can pick the cream out of a much larger crop.

    Don’t tell them that, however. They are desperate to hold onto that fallacy that NC State students are just locals who got turned down by UNX for academics.

  13. MadWolf92 02/08/2007 at 12:22 PM #

    UNCA?!? WTF?

  14. MadWolf92 02/08/2007 at 12:24 PM #

    (Posted before the comment about UNCA’s class size was posted. Small class size can certainly skew the stats.)

  15. RedTerror29 02/08/2007 at 12:29 PM #

    UNCA is actually a very good school. UNC-CH is VERY hard to get into from out of state. One benefit of a powerhouse b-ball program our university’s administration failed to grasp for many years.

  16. wolfpack1986 02/08/2007 at 12:32 PM #

    I beleive that the best effect this story would have is to get it out to the “academics” over at UNC. As people have stated, the media either will or will not run with this story- probably the latter. If you get it to the professors and the other University types over on the hill that believe that the school is selling its soul to the football program they will start having meeting(s) protesting this “hypocrisy”. Thus, UNC will be fighting internally and the story gets out any maybe they will be held accountable. It will be a “win-win” situation.

  17. statered 02/08/2007 at 12:44 PM #

    beo – I was looking at ECU versus everyone else.

  18. RickJ 02/08/2007 at 12:44 PM #

    ^If I had to guess, I would bet that Davis is going to the admissions board and asking for a one or two year grace period. He’ll have to fight hard, but I would bet that he’s going to say, “Lemme get these guys and then we’ll do it your way. But I’ve gotta get over that initial hump.”

    I believe this issue, more than money, was what Davis and UNC were negotiating before they came to an agreement. This is why Beamer balked at the last minute the last time around. It has already been decided by UNC – they plan to do what it takes this time around to improve football.

  19. statered 02/08/2007 at 12:50 PM #

    another thing – I guarantee you that Glenn does not have a green light on pointing out the academic diffiencies of the UNC class and that’s why he avoided the question. He will only get that once the PTB at UNC are ready to get rid of Davis or he is on his way out on his own and they want to spin the “we didn’t really like him anyway” tale.

    All of O’s protests aside Glenn will not do anything that will jeopardize his contacts there. If he did the inside info coming from there about UNC and other conference schools (and there is much via the ACC office and Swofford) would be cut off.

  20. beowolf 02/08/2007 at 12:51 PM #

    If that’s the case, Rick, and if this is indicative of where they’re headed — two more big if’s here, I realize — then will they be able to get away with it in the Age of the Blogosphere?

    This could be a fun few years.

  21. BJD95 02/08/2007 at 1:02 PM #

    I think SFN would love to publish a long piece on Washburn, if noah would be willing. Veryinteresting figure in NC State history, and our younger fans probably don’t know much about him other than the lousy SAT score.

  22. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 02/08/2007 at 1:03 PM #

    To be honest a 17 year old grades and SAT score is quite frankly no one’s business. I would love to see the reaction of you folks with kids having your little rugrat’s grades and SAT all over the net.

    Some of you that think you have smart kids that go to a public school probably wouldn’t mind. You probably have one of those ‘My kid is a PS 50 School Honor Student” on the back of the minivan. This is little more than saying my kid can read and add.

    I have never understood the fascination of adults wanting to know or concerning themselves with the grades of student athletes. I can assure you there isn’t one student athlete that gives a crap about your kid’s grades.

  23. statered 02/08/2007 at 1:07 PM #

    I could care less about some kids grades.

    I care a lot about pointing out the hypocrisy and double standards at UNC.

  24. beowolf 02/08/2007 at 1:09 PM #

    With all due respect, tcth[…], I am a taxpayer in the state of North Carolina, and if I am going to be extorted to pay about 80 percent of someone’s freight to the “flagship” public institution in this state, I would prefer him to be reasonably prepared to succeed academically.

    As a taxpayer and an alumnus of a rival institution, I would certainly prefer not to help pay the way for a vastly underprepared student who can’t compete in the classroom but could compete against my institution’s team on the field. All those classroom resources should be reserved at least for a more deserving, academically prepared athlete.

    You probably have one of those ‘My kid is a PS 50 School Honor Student” on the back of the minivan. This is little more than saying my kid can read and add.

    That says more than a 670 SAT score. At 670, you’re at “good guesser” status.

  25. wolfpack95 02/08/2007 at 1:24 PM #

    [If they’re smart, they’ll do what Sam Jones hopefully did. Immediately withdraw from high school, fail their senior year and do it over again at prep school next year.]

    If this post refers to FVHS’s Sam Jones, Jones did not withdraw from school during his senior year to attend prep.

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