NCAA Looking Into High School Transfer Of Bama Football Recruit Paige

October 24th, 2012 11:45 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Alabama
Tags: Alabama, Foley High, Foley High School, recruiting

Back in August, a high school coach in Pensacola, Florida said that Alabama assistant coach Jeremy Pruitt steered prospect Darius Paige from Washington High to Foley High in Mobile, Alabama. In the words of high school assistant George Schellang:

“Darius came in the office one day during the summer after coach (Mike) Smith left and sat down and told me coach Pruitt, who is the Alabama coach who was recruiting him, wanted him to go to Foley High School. Basically, he said (Foley High) could take care of him academically.

My reaction was shock and dismay that a Division I coach would tell a high school athlete that he needed to transfer, that they had people there to help…”

The Mobile Press-Register later reported that Foley High’s block scheduling system would allow Paige to earn more credits in a school year than Washington High’s system. End of story?

Not exactly.

According to The Pensacola News Journal, “Sources close to the situation have confirmed” that “NCAA associate director of enforcement Renee Gomila will be in Pensacola this week to interview Washington officials about Paige.” The sources “spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing NCAA investigation.”

The paper states that Paige’s transfer from Washington to Foley has launched the NCAA probe and “caused a local investigation into Washington High School’s handling of the move.”

Stay tuned…

(Ever notice how newspapers use “sources” every single day yet when someone running a website — with 20 years of television, radio, internet, and print experience behind them — does the same, some newspaper writers fire shots at them over their use of sources. We find that… interesting.)

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3 comments

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Fayettechill14

Whether Alabama specifically is guilty or not, there's something not right about a pro-Alabama administration at a high school that offers extra credits for students, allowing highly-recruiting players to transfer in, play a year, and then commit to Alabama. It's a competitive disadvantage for the high school's opponents, and if it's not illegal recruiting it should be.

JamieM

I am a Bama homer but I do think this comes down to a school not offering special classes, summer school, etc as opposed to another one offering these classes. IE there is a small school that does not have an AP honors program, so a student can transfer to another larger school that offers these programs with out penalty. I think the NCAA has a policy like this as well. Ask Russell Wilson for a better explanation. Slippery slope I agree, but Pruitt did coach with the Foley HS coach before he got the job at Bama so there is a history.

quad77

I like to think this is a big deal, but saban has some teflon to him,

they have gotten in trouble before while on probation and nothing happens to them.

Maybe they will get mad enough and go punish troy or uab

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