4 star osu recruit shot.

"This isn't an accusation, but how do kids pay to go to these 'military academies?'" They get partial scholarships. Fork Union and Hargrave Academy both give scholarships that cover 50 percent of your tuition (about $32,000). They will allow you to do work-study for the rest. I've outlined this before, but it was buried in a Kevin Newsome post. Schools will have relationships with the prep schools. They'll get a booster to fund a partial scholarship at a particular prep school and it will be understood that the scholarship is reserved for players headed to University X. The coach, in return, will make sure that the player in question is "protected." Fork Union's in the middle of nowhere. When you show up, they take your bags and go through them and take all of your clothes out. "You won't be needing these. Mom can take these back home for you." Pretty much the only people you interact with are the drill sergeants, teachers, and fellow grunts. Phone calls are extremely limited. Needless to say, you don't carry around a cell phone. If you get a visitor or a phone call, it's screened. If a player changes his mind about the school that he wants to attend, it's extremely important that he be very upfront about everything. He needs to tell the coaches both at the prep school and at the college. One of the first recruiting stories I ever covered involved a strong safety who wanted to switch schools. The coach at the rival school couldn't get in touch of him at FUMA, so they waited until he came home for Christmas to change his mind. He went back to FUMA and thought about it and never told anyone he was wavering. Then, he got a weekend pass and signed out to visit his mom...and never came back. He had gotten his SAT scores in order, so he didn't need to finish the year. John Shuman, the FUMA head coach, was furious when I talked to him. I couldn't figure out why...until the next year when the spurned football program started sending their kids to Hargrave. Just about every person I ever interviewed who did done time at Hargrave or FUMA said they hated it...but it did them a lot of good. The only thing they ever did was work out and study. It really is an excellent preparatory program for big time college football players. The one exception that had a pretty awful experience was a guy named Sherrod Peace. He was a DT from Northern Durham High School in Durham, NC. A DI got in his face and was tearing him a new one...and Peace snapped and punched him. Broke the DI's jaw. Peace was given the boot and ended up at a JUCO in Kansas. Anyway...that's how they work.

"Has Ohio State now started using prep schools like the SEC programs?" Eddie George was a FUMA graduate. I think he went there BEFORE getting involved with the Buckeyes though. There's not anything wrong with getting FUMA or Hargrave kids. Both of those schools are phenomenal prep schools. It's very rare for a kid who is having trouble with his grades not to experience significant improvement. You have to remember...a lot of these kids are the first person in their family to EVER go to college. And a lot of kids never realized that college was an option until maybe late in their junior year. I've covered plenty of cases where a kid had some academic ability, but because college never even crossed his mind, he was taking the "slacker course load." He was taking just enough classes to graduate...no foreign languages, not enough maths, etc. I'll give you a great example. I won't use the guy's real name, but just call him "Joe." He was a 6-5, 250 pound power forward at a small high school in the middle of nowhere. His school got a new wrestling coach when he was a sophomore. The coach convinced Joe to try wrestling. It turns out that Joe is a natural, even when he goes up against kids that are just as big at some of the larger schools. Joe is a pretty average basketball player and isn't going to get a scholarship to play hoops. But he's extremely agile and naturally strong and has lightning fast hands. The wrestling coach goes to the football coach and tells him about Joe. Joe starts his junior year and decides to try football. He's raw as hell and doesn't really know what he's doing, but it's obvious that THIS is the sport that he should've been playing all along. The booster squad at Joe's school has a really good year and they raised enough money to send the entire team to football camp at a major university about an hour down the road. Joe puts on a great performance at the camp and one of the college coaches pulls him aside and offers him a scholarship. Joe is smart...he just never thought he'd go to college, so he's been taking the slacker classes. His football coach and the college that he's got an offer from sit down with him and outline what he needs to do. He's got to take the SATs and do reasonably well. He needs to finish his senior year in good academic standing. Then he needs to attend Hargrave and take a certain number of core classes and get a certain grade in them. Joe graduates high school, goes to Hargrave, does his work study and gets a partial ride, plays well, studies hard, works with tutors, gets his core classes and qualifies for his chosen college. He's never a star (I don't think he even started a game), but he's a contributor during his junior and senior seasons. He did well in college and graduated in 4.5 years. There are PLENTY of kids just like that. Why would a school shy away from them? I'd much rather go after a prep schooler than a kid from some of these JUCOs. Places like Hinds and Garden City CC are basically just diploma mills. There are a bunch of colleges that won't take their classes because the credits are complete crap. There are plenty of high school "prep" schools that are diploma mills too. Mt. Zion Christian Academy in Durham (where Tracy McGrady went) was accused of being one. Killian High School in Miami was one of those. There have been some questions about the high school where John Wall attended (I don't know if they're valid questions or not). But Hargrave and FUMA are excellent schools. I'd be thrilled to get a kid from there.

I'm just in a long-post kinda place today...I apologize. "If a booster is covering part of tuition for the prep school, why is that not an NCAA violation?" For the same reason that soft-money donations in politics are not illegal. I can't give Barack Obama $1 million for the 2012 elections. But I *can* spend $1 million talking about how awful the programs endorsed by his opponents are. (this is ignoring the recent SCOTUS decision on donations by corporations, unions, etc). If I am a Michigan booster, what business is it of the NCAA's if I want to help the hard-working gents at FUMA? or Maine Central Institute? Or Avon Old Prep? Hey, I have no idea who uses those scholarships. I'm just a loyal and generous contributor to the prep school. You aren't giving money for a SPECIFIC player to go to school. You're just funding a scholarship. If a player from that school happens to attend Michigan...that's just the way it goes sometimes, I guess. Yes, the NCAA knows about this. No, they don't care. No, it's not a rules violation. You can't hand the player a check and say, "This is for tuition!" It's just sort of understood. Frankly, in the world of college sports recruiting, this is one of the LEAST dirty aspects of it all. Considering how often SEC schools donate Gulfstreams for coaches and recruits to use for visits, how cheerleaders and other pretty coeds get turned into veritable geishas, and how college sports end up being the tail that wags the dog...this is the least of the areas in need of reform.

"you mean Avon Old Farms?" Yes, that is what I meant. Did you work there? I covered a game between the Hun School and Avon several years ago. I got to take a tour of Avon Old Farms before the game. Absolutely gorgeous. That's what every high school in America ought to look like. (I'm the product of poor, public schools in the SE, so yankee prep schools impress me. :) )