That’s fair, but there is still a question of credits. One of my son’s teammates repeated 8th grade last year so that he can be ahead of everyone as a baseball prospect (something I just find silly myself). But he still has to collect all of the core HS credits.
I know this happens all the time and college academics for athletes have been a sham for a long, long time in many cases. I will also concede that it is possible for these kids to take summer classes and build up credits so they have this option. I just remain really, really skeptical that kids who are traveling all over the country playing in these elite tournaments, who are switching high schools all the time, and who clearly are putting in a ton of time with their sport have figured out how to be academically accepted into a big-time college. But maybe I’m just a grumpy old guy who’s dealing with getting his son accepted to colleges without him being a basketball star.
I’m not surprised they can get the credits, at this point I assume a tutor does a substantial amount of work and the content is negligible to begin with. But given those assumptions, ACT/SAT — which seems harder to falsify/cheat — seems like it would become a non-trivial hurdle.
Seems more pragmatic to hold a kid back in 9th grade, then he has access to the full HS course offerings and doesn’t have to waste a year on repeating 8th grade classes. Just because you’re held back for athletic purposes, doesn’t mean you can’t actually make academic progress.
For the ACT/SAT, kids often take it at their own school, with local staff as proctors. I can imagine that some funny business might go on for a kid who needs “help”.
You can’t imagine that a star recruit might have someone take the test for him? All the school has to do is pull that one test out of the pile and make sure to put it back in before they mail the bunch back…
I don’t think it’s a good thing, and it doesn’t happen everywhere - but it does happen. Star athletes who need the score will manage to get it. There aren’t that many cases like Kevin Garnett’s anymore, where he kept retaking the SAT.
Caleb Houston reclassified before last season, not after it. This means he had a whole year to get his classes, take his tests, etc., not a few weeks. I agree that not everyone who reclassified, even late, is cheating, but Caleb’s situation is not analogous at all to the recent spate of last minute reclassifications like Duren and Bates.
I also wonder how his Canadian roots play into it because I think their school system is slightly different in terms of which years you start.
I also think that the last minute flip to go early…not to mention when you’ve been traveling all summer and are going to a pseudo prep school that didn’t exist two year go…makes it sketchier. Maybe it is all legit…just smells funny when schools like Memphis and LSU that have a history of cheating suddenly pull this off.
Right. It’s plausible if a little unsavory when a kid is homeschooled or Prolific Prepped and graduates in three years and everybody knows the schedule well in advance. It’s an entirely different thing when a kid accelerates a year in mid-summer. (I concede we don’t know nothing for sure.)
I get that it’s different and I know it’s not 1 to 1. But these things don’t happen out of nowhere, likely he and LSU have been talking about it for a while now. The talk with Duren was “as long as he gets his credits in order he’ll be reclassing.” Not like these kids need to get an A. Carter Whitt reclassified mid season. Justice Williams is at Montverde. I’m sure they keep that option open for their players
Teams will forfeit games due to COVID cancellations. Who does the testing? That doesn’t seem to encourage anyone to disclose a COVID positive. Not that a team would stoop that low, but it sure sets the stage for it to happen.
I think some teams/programs would absolutely stoop that low if given the opportunity. I’d guess most schools/conferences will have sufficient protocols in place to ensure that doesn’t happen though, but perhaps not everywhere.