Academic Requirements for Recruits

I don't know the requirements, but all your friends are dumb, ND has a top-5 ranked recruiting class year in and year out, so the requirements must not be holding them back too much.  

Don't know specifics but I think Michigan has standards that are higher than the NCAA Clearinghouse ones, so even if you qualify to play, Michigan may still not take you.



I'm not sure but Demar Dorsey might have been a victim of this

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Eligibility/Becoming+Eli...

That's the list of NCAA requirements. From what I have seen it varies at each school just like with regular student requirements. There is supposed to be a site that outlines the requirements for Michigan but I was getting an error trying to get it to open.

ND also has the advantage of being a private institution, so they can bend admissions rules as needed (their own, not the NCAA's).  Not to mention they don't have to deal FOIA requests.  

While Michigan may be willing to take fewer flyers than other B1G schools, at the end of the day they go by the B1G standard (which last I knew was slightly higher than the NCAA standard, particularly for remaining eligible, though I believe the NCAA standard was recently increased). The only B1G school that probably sets themselves to a higher minimum stander is NW, schools like MSU may take more borderline prospects, but they all (outside of I'm assuming NW) have the same minimum and will go down to that minimum if the talent is worth it. It's the amount of these borderline kids that may differ between most of the B1G.

Back to the exact topic, I'm not sure on the specifics of ND, and with them being private I don't think they are required to say publically what their standards are, but if they are any higher (and let's face it, ND and Michigan recruit very similarly as far as who they offer scholarships to, so it isn't incredibly different) it is only very slightly higher, if at all. My guess is ND holds themselves to something very similar to B1G standards (about equal footing academically) but can fudge up or down because they are private (though they must adhere to NCAA requirements, and I doubt they ever go that low).

In a column about Father Hesburgh yesterday, he cited a requirement about 2 math courses, which I did not understand. Whether they are required for admission or for graduation, I do not know. His point was that those requirements are what separate ND from the others, in recruiting.

i think that used to be the case but no longer.  ND now takes recruits that in the past they would not have admitted and that was one of the reasons that no one had much success there until kelly - kelly is now recruiting all the same kids as UM, ohio and FSU for that matter.

I think ND does have higher admissions standards for football players than does Michigan - at least on paper - but I'd like to see a list of players whom they've back away from b/c of academics.  The guys they recruit are inevitably being recruited by Michigan, USC, Alabama, etc.  We can't say that they do not pass on some guys, but they certainly have known, large pool of players from which they recruit...It's worth noting too that there seems to be some grey area as far as admissions.  My understanding is that Michigan's admissions standards are the NCAA minimum, and yet we've seen players turned away from Michigan for academic reasons (at least apparently) who end up at other schools. 

Hey Tate, I think your eligibility is expired buddy.

For comparison purposes in this discussion, the NCAA Division I Handbook, Section 14 lays out the NCAA standards in gory detail. I believe the Big Ten conference at large tends to go with something similar to this (I think the GPA requirement is higher though - could be wrong there), with schools varying their own requirements.

Here's the whole manual (can't link to specific pages) - (LINK) - all the relvant stuff is too long to paste into a reply.

Some of the more important pages to hit, I would think:

Section 14.3.1.1 - Definition of "qualifer", including core course requirements - page 163

Section 14.3.1.1.2 - Eligibility Index Table for "qualifier" status, outlining Core GPA, SAT and ACT minimum requirements - page 165-66

Section 14.3.1.2.6 - Grade Value Of Core Course - page 169

Section 14.3.1.3 - Test Score Requirements - pages 169

According to the movies, Notre Dame players randomly showed up at coach's office to either tell a crazy story about their friend "Pete" or to give up their spot for a walk-on...  

Someone on the Domer message board went on a tirade about how Notre Dame will never been relevant again because black kids are allowed to play football.

It was an appalling geyser of shit that shouldn't have lasted five minutes, but it stood for longer than I care to remember. I got the link from a thread on this blog, and I'm pretty sure someone posted evidence that this particular snobby excuse for mediocre football was total bull. You can also just look at the rank of their recruiting classes.

Eligibility and admission are two separate entities.  Every Division I university follows the same NCAA Eligibility standards that were linked above.  However, just because a student is eligible doesn't mean they are admissable to certain schools.  I think the ability to get a kid admitted, i.e. Dorsey, come into play and awful lot.  

I feel like more than half our recruits are offered from ND as well, not sure we are getting in on that many recruits that they can't

The "nd can't recruit winning talent due to qualifying academically" mantra (and fact) is dead now. Weis got them to finally see that to win you simply have to find a way to get them in. Kelly only cemented it. Not the complete moron studs that the SEC teams sneak in but those great talents that are borderline or out of reach just a decade ago. It's showing and has been since Weis. I believe it was a deal breaking issue during his hire, IIRC. ND is athletically no harder to get into as an All-American FB player than Michigan. Both are about a 7 out of 10 when it comes to sports and a slight notch above most schools. Some are a legit 1, lol. Mike Oher read at a 3rd grade level and got into a University with shoddy HS scores and a foster family that gave money to Ole Miss. Don't let the fluffy movie fool you. Kid was academically ineligible for pre-school and got into a University, lol. As of today, few schools are above what I'd guess to be around that 6-7/10 area. Basically, be of average intelligence, pass tests and you're in. Both UM and nd are in that range FOR ATHLETES.

Surprised it hasn't been said yet in this thread...

Fuck Notre Dame.

any school which hopes to play football at a high level probably has to bend admissions requirements for athletes, to a greater or lesser degree. There probably isn't a school in the country that would hold the same standards for athletes and non-athletes, not even Stanford and Northwestern. Do those schools have higher standards than other schools for their athletes? Yes. Is it still lower than those for their averge student. It has to be.

I find it hard to believe ND would voluntarily put themselves at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to football.  I'd say that for any other big time college football program, including Michigan.

Northwestern.... not what I'd call big time, recent 10 win season notwithstanding.  Stanford?  Hmm.... you got me on that one.

Agree that OP's friend is not well informed.  Pretty much everyone in college plays by the same rules except (IIRC) Northwestern, Stanford, and Vanderbilt.  Maybe BC?