Don Bosco Prep being investigated for possible benefits violation involving Peppers
Apparently Peppers and his mother had an apartment arranged for them as a "favor" when he was at Don Bosco, which he was forced out of when he transferred schools. Any possibility U of M will face consequences for recruiting a player who is later deemed ineligibile (if that's the case)? Sorry if this isn't an appropriate topic, feel free to delete.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
The examples I used were limited to two prominent athletes at two of the schools other than Don Bosco Prep and Paramus Catholic among the football power Catholic schools in Bergen County, New Jersey where Jabrill Peppers (another prominent athlete) played his high school football -- because I thought that the topic of this thread was Jabrill Peppers' recruitment at two Catholic schools in Bergen County, New Jersey.
I didn't intend to give anyone the impression that it's a "big deal" for non-Catholic students to be enrolled in Catholic schools; and (to use one of this Board's latest memes), I'm aware that there are numerous reasons why a non-Catholic student might attend a Catholic school. Mea culpa.
Shalom. As-salanu alaykum. . . . Peace!
October 29th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
Catholic schools let in non-Catholic students in all the time. It's not that big a deal. Most schoosl don't even care if you're religious. Even if you're not an athlete it's not a big deal at all.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
PC got a bunch of players that were transfers from other school. They definitely cheat, since they were awful before those players randomly arrived. I've heard that a lot of Bosco kids get apartments near by that the coaches play for. Sometimes they live with other players (not that it's illegal or anything) that already live near by. Bosco and PC definitely cheat, BC and them I doubt.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:26 PM ^
He has bone chips in his knee. Please stop the conspiracy theories.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
While playing for Paramus Catholic last year, he missed time in four of his first six football games because of leg cramping problems, LINK
But he was running well enough by last June to become the second boy in New Jersey history to win both the 100-metter and 200-meter sprints at the State Meet of Champions in back-to-back seasons. LINK
October 29th, 2014 at 4:40 PM ^
I don't see any potential consequences for Michigan here, apart from losing a possibly elite D-back. Which would be a stiff punishment on its own.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
I didn't read all of the comments, but this story broke a few weeks ago FYI
I think it was a story in a local NJ paper website that had a piece on Pepprs where he said something about how he transferred from Bosco football high school to Paramus and it was suspicious circumstances.
Even if he did that doesn't mean much for Michigan if I'm not mistaken.
The coach at Paramus might have some splainin' to do though.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
I've included it in a previous post, but here's that LINK again.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
Your mom renting an apartment from your high school coach's brother doesn't violate amateurism rules. Settle down people.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:52 PM ^
They're actually investigating the school, not Peppers, so your subject is inaccurate and could mislead people into thinking Peppers did something wrong.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:12 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^
New Jersey Catholic Schools are dirtier than Ohio's Catholic League. I've worried that Michigan's CL will start going that direction; until lately it was so dominated by Bo guys (and the Bo-like but non-Bo guy Al Fracassa) that things have stayed fairly clean.
When this stuff started coming out I asked a guy who should know if Peppers might have anything follow him and he said no unless Michigan decides to do something on their own. Basically his old school was PISSED when he transferred, and has been trying ever since to sink him and smear him.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
I don't know how you measure "dirtiness," but if it's measured by extensive and aggressive recruiting, then those northern New Jersey parochial powers have been doing that for a long time. In recent years, thanks in part to ESPN and MaxPreps, they've been aggressive in acquiring talent that can compete on a national scale, But it's hard to find a great deal of evidence of those schools having broken the rules.
The New Jersey high school football rules were amended in order to allow those schools to play out-of-state schools, instead of having to blow out some of the public school teams that they traditionally faced.
If your friend or acquaintance is an alumnus of or affiliated with Don Bosco Prep, then he's on target with his views about that school's anger at Jabrill Peppers. LINK He was a pretty exciting "Super Sophomore" football player for Don Bosco before he transferred to Paramus Catholic. LINK
October 29th, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
The public schools in North Jersey got tired of the behavior of the parochial schools on and off the field and created their own league without them.
The only way the North Jersey parochial schools were able to fill their schedules without playing the same teams every season was to look out of state.
October 30th, 2014 at 7:40 AM ^
October 30th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
Seth, I think that you, Brian Cook and your fellow moderators and contributors at MGoBlog do a great job of obtaining detailed information about Michigan athletics that would take many of us too much time and effort to acquire. It's much appreciated.
Whether this is all due to Al Gore or Ada Lovelace, there are lots of great tools on the Internet for research on subjects that interest you; and if you don't mind the inbox overload, Google Alerts is pretty good.
November 12th, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
Google Alerts only covers stuff that's posted.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^
Im from the Jacksonville Area and the same thing with Tim Tebow when he was at Nease and only the high school was punished when it got out
October 29th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 6:05 PM ^
It was taken down the first time because the poster tried to tie it directly to Peppers not being on the field for Michigan, and there really doesn't seem to be a connection between this investigation and that. The only clear thing is that Peppers is injured, though the full details beyond that are sketchy because "we don't talk about injuries", of course. This thread is a little more clear in that respect and asks the question without trying to make the connection, so it can stay - it really is all in how one puts things sometimes.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 5:09 PM ^
There are many differences between the Jamal Crawford situation and what is being reported in the NJ media. Jamal Crawford was suspended for 8 games because it was determined that he had accepted $15,000 in benefits, such as clothing, food, and living expenses, from a friend of the family.
It is not at all clear Peppers was the beneficiary of anything at all. According to the article, rent was paid for at least awhile, and the landlord obtained a judgment for certain unpaid rent. The landlord is trying to garnish wages for the remaining $196--now that is some New Jersey class right there.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:18 PM ^
Yes, let's extrapolate from one Landlord's attempt to collect $196 a general principle about the "class" of an entire state.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:32 PM ^
Well, what I meant to say is "that is some New Jersey right there." But I meant no offense. From my visits there, and from NJers I've met, I think they are actually proud of being meathead dicks.
October 29th, 2014 at 8:21 PM ^
This response is totally different and not at all offensive to the people of New Jersey.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:04 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 8:11 PM ^
While this likely has nothing to do with the reason(s) Peppers hasn't played, this issue could compromise his eligibility going forward. If it is determined his mother received reduced living expenses or other "compensation" in return for Jabrill's athletic performance and/or incentive to play football for a school, that could be an impermissible benefit. (http://www.mgoblue.com/compliance/pr-amateurism.html)
Just want to make sure everyone being so dismissive of this beacuse Michigan didn't have anything to do with it realizes that it can still affect Peppers, but obviously not the University.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
Seriously, what is this? #FSUtwitter?
We could potentially lose our best player due to eligibility issues.
That is a huge fucking deal.
October 30th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^
Did any of you actually read the article? Yes, they got the apartment through the brother of someone connected to the football program, for $1300/mo in rent. They did pay their rent, but it appears that sometimes it was late.
The landlord only tried to enforce the late-payments clause of the lease when Peppers transferred. A judge threw that out for obvious reasons, and just had them pay their last month's rent.
Was the eviction and lawsuit payback for transferring? Sure, yes, it's possible. People can be assholes. It's quite common.
But it hasn't got anything to do with Peppers' eligibility. Helping someone find an apartment isn't a violation. We know there was a reasonable rent, and we know they paid it. The rest is bullshit that may be indicative of larger problems at Don Bosco (the lawsuit as a threat -- if you move your kid, we will make your life hell), but nothing else.