Freshman must qualify academically by Brennan David Issue date: 7/13/06 Section: Sports LSU football head coach Les Miles is battling his first obstacle of the 2006 season, academic eligibility. Six incoming freshmen have thus far failed to academically qualify for Miles' second season. The players are Shomari Clemons, Richard Murphy, Jason Teague, Keiland Williams, Charles Deas and Zhamal Thomas. "A number of guys are taking care of academic eligibility," Miles said. "Four of those guys probably have glitches like a transcript being handwritten instead of a computer printout." Miles also said two players, Clemons, a safety, and Teague, a cornerback, may not join the team because of academic requirements. A third freshman facing serious problems is defensive tackle Charles Deas. "Shomari Clemons has a serious issue at this point," Miles said. "He's a decent student, but he made some mistakes in scheduling classes. He may have a delayed entry into school. Keiland Williams has one of those little things that have to be taken care of." According to Miles, the 2006 freshmen class is expected to contribute on the field. Kyle Williams and Claude Wroten graduated, creating a hole at defensive tackle which Deas could fill. On the offensive side, tailbacks Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard are recovering from season-ending injuries in 2005. If Keiland Williams becomes eligible, he could see serious time in the backfield, as could Richard Murphy. "Richard Murphy may be as good a football player as there is in this freshman class," Miles said. "He's finishing up a summer school class. I'm told he's doing very well." There are 26 incoming freshmen this year, including gray-shirt freshman Jacob Cutrera, who finished high school early and enrolled at LSU in the spring. Miles declined to specify exactly what problems some freshmen were facing.
I'm interested to see how this kind of thing plays out. Saban had few problems with kids getting eligible. But this kind of thing, IMO was Dinardo's downfall. A couple of DiNardo's heralded recruiting classes were bombs because only half the kids qualified or played a down at LSU. It's hard to sustain a program like that and over a couple years, only getting 13 of 26 eligible or on the field at all means disaster looms. You think the NCAA taking away 5 scholarships is hard.....how about having only half a class actually show up and play.
