Friday, February 06, 2009
Mackey was a qualifier? Who knew?
Ole Miss’ Nutt goes extra mile
Doug Doughty
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I don’t profess to know the full story with one-time Virginia Tech football recruit Leon Mackey, but I know more than I did a week ago.
(For longtime reader Andrew Joyner, who keeps track of such things, that’s three I’s in the first paragraph and I’m sorry, but I was pressed for time).
In any case, Mackey, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound defensive end from Newark, Del., signed with South Carolina this week but not before he had signed with Virginia Tech once (in 2008) and committed to Clemson.
Mackey would have gone to Clemson if the ACC had given him immediate eligibility.
Even if Tech had given Mackey a release from his letter-of-intent, which the school eventually furnished, Mackey would have lost one season of eligibility and had to pay his way for a year.
Mackey was an undergraduate when he played on the postgraduate team at Hargrave Military Academy in 2007-2008. He signed with the Hokies last February but did not enroll this summer.
At the time, it was assumed that Mackey had not made NCAA eligibility requirements and would have to return to Hargrave as a partial qualifier or a non-qualifier or whatever the designation would have been.
Mackey did return to Hargrave this season, but here’s the rub: The way it’s been explained to me, he was a qualifier and nobody knew it. Or maybe Virginia Tech knew it, but I don’t think it was common knowledge.
If Mackey had not been a qualifier, his letter-of-intent would have been voided as soon as classes began at Hargrave. Because he was considered a qualifier, his letter-of-intent remained in effect.
It’s similar to the situation with Gus Gilchrist, the 2006 Tech basketball signee who asked out of his letter-of-intent following the shootings of April 2007. Gilchrist attempted to transfer to Maryland but found the ACC’s rule for in-conference transfers so punitive that he eventually enrolled at South Florida (and eventually had his full eligibility restored).
Tech generally will take a football recruit who meets NCAA eligibility standards, with one primary exception. The Hokies require two math courses and Mackey did not have the two maths he needed as the 2008 season approached.
At the same time, Mackey’s credentials were still being examined by the NCAA Clearinghouse, which had not made a ruling by the time it was time to report in early August. Between the math classes and the clearinghouse, the Hokies thought the best course of action was for Mackey to return to Hargrave.
Whether the NCAA Clearinghouse ever ruled in Mackey’s favor is uncertain. If so, you would think he would have gone to Tech.
“When I last talked to him, I thought that he was going to Tech,” Hargrave coach Robert Prunty said today.
So, what happened?
“I don’t know,” Prunty said. “I don’t know. You know what I mean? I don’t know.”
My guess is that Mackey was still dealing with the two-match requirement, wasn’t sure he would ever get into Tech and ended up at the school where he had the best chance of being admitted.
It just so happens that Mackey ended up at a school where the recruiting coordinator, Shane Beamer, is the son of Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer. Certainly, the Gamecocks had an interest in not having Mackey at Clemson, but this does not appear to be any scheme to keep Mackey away from the Tigers.
It was the ACC that said Mackey would lose a year of eligibility based on its interpretation of Mackey’s status with the clearinghouse. It’s interesting to note that there were two mammoth lineman at Hargrave this fall – Mackey and Appomattox-bred Robert Massie – and it looked at one time as if both would be headed to Tech.
Massie, in fact, committed during the fall of his senior year at Lynchburg Christian Academy in 2007, only to re-open his recruiting when it looked like he might not qualify. Massie signed with Mississippi this week.
THERE IS A lesson to be learned for some of the other schools in the Massie sweepstakes. On the day that Hargrave held its winter workout, no longer termed a “combine” to appease the NCAA, the only I-A head coach at Hargrave was Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt.
“I’ve said that from Day One,” Prunty said. “Houston Nutt was the only one there. All those players, you think they didn’t notice?”
In the end, Prunty admitted, Massie’s choice of Mississippi and Alabama came down to the Rebels’ willingness to use him at left tackle, the position that protects right-handed quarterbacks from an opposition’s speed rushers. Alabama already had taken its prototypical left tackle and wanted Massie to play on the right side.
By signing 38 players, 13 over the NCAA limit, Mississippi clearly was conceding that many of its recruits either would not meet NCAA standards or enroll at a later date. It will be interesting to watch if Massie takes the field for the Rebels any time soon.
HARRISONBURG HIGH SCHOOL running back Alex Owah, at No. 38, is the highest-rated prospect on The Roanoke Times’ Top 100 who did not sign Wednesday or make an oral commitment prior to signing day.
Actually, Owah made a commitment to Virginia in December 2007 but subsequently reopened his recruiting when it was revealed that he had been rejected for admission by UVa.
It has been written that Owah had an issue with core classes, which, if true, would make it difficult to enroll at any Division I-A college and receive a scholarship next year.
In an article in Thursday’s Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg reporter Marcus Helton quoted Owah as saying that he had narrowed his choice to three Division I-A schools but would not reveal their identity.
“ 'It’s going to be sunny wherever I go,' I’ll tell you that,” Helton said.
SIGNING DAY PRODUCED few surprises in terms of mysterious Division I-A recruits, but there were a few surprise destinations coming out of the Tidewater region.
Ocean Lakes teammates Shamarko Thomas and Brandon Sharpe, both listed as committed to Louisville, signed with the staff of new Syracuse coach Doug Marrone. The “player to be named later” was Lake Taylor running back Boogie McCray, now headed to Louisville after originally committing to N.C. State.
