Ward question

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amateurdwarftosser

amateurdwarftosser

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Just checking to see if i am missing something here with regard to Trabis Ward.

A couple days ago people on here were talking about how much higher the admission standards are for the Big 10 vs those in the SEC. The prevailing thought there was if your academics were not in order for the Big 10, you can always go to an SEC school and they didnt care.

So, here we have a 4 star RB who's waiting on test scores to get into the University of Minnesota. He's had several other offers from other programs, some of which are in the SEC. Why hasnt he already signed to one of these 'lower standard' SEC schools? Are there other factors here that i am not aware of? I would think that there is a school out there who would love to have another 4 star in their class (as should we).

For the record, I hope this young man ends up at the U. We can always use more talent, it seems that we have had an OK track record taking on academically challenged students, and it seems that he wants to be here.
 

just my opinion, but i think all the talk about it being so easy to get into a sec school is just talk.
i have yet to see anyone here post any link to the sec admittance standards. maybe usnews&world reports don't rank their institutions highly (don't put too much stock in usnews&world reports--universities don't) but that doesn't mean that they are JCs.
 

Maybe he prefers the U and didn't want to commit anywhere else.
 

Without test scores he couldn't pass NCAA clearinghouse and therefore couldn't get in to any school. It's not that his academics are that bad, it's that for whatever reason he waited until January to take his college entrance exams. A lot of programs (Miami, Rutgers, etc) that offered him early backed off because they had other players commit to fill their class and it wasn't worth waiting on a student that hadn't proven he could gain entrance to school. Minnesota had the benefit of already having one 4-star RB committed and another running back that redshirted last year so if Ward doesn't gain admissions we're still fine at the position. If Stephens wouldn't have decommitted we wouldn't be talking to Ward either.

The admissions differential between the SEC & Big 10 is real but it's a little different than the way most people represent it. Big 10 schools (and remember each institution sets it's own policies) are generally more demanding of the classes they choose to accept. For instance, Illinois wouldn't admit Craig Drummond in January because one of his HS classes was a correspondence course (done on the internet from home). They asked him to take the class in the spring and he would be enrolled for the fall. The kid had a 3.2 GPA and over 20 on his ACT so he was clearly good to go from NCAA clearinghouse standards. He ended up committing to Ole Miss because their admissions office would accept his correspondence course thereby allowing him to gain admission in January and compete for a starting position in spring practice. As a corollary the Big 10 is generally more demaning of Juco transfers because the classes they take must meet the standards of our institution(s) and some of the classes Juco's offer count toward their Associate degree but would not receive transfer credits at a school like Minnesota. This is no different than a student transferring from Normandale to the U or even transferring from another 4 year institution to the U.
 

Ward has said he hasn't received test scores for either the ACT or SAT tests, which are required to be academically cleared by the NCAA. If his combination of test scores and high school grades are good enough, he's expected to sign with Minnesota and apply for admission. If history is any indicator, it will most likely be months before the NCAA reviews his academics. Even if hasn't been cleared, he can still apply and be accepted at a school. But like happened with Gray, if the NCAA doesn't clear him, he can't be at school under a scholarship.
 


grunkiejr said:
Without test scores he couldn't pass NCAA clearinghouse and therefore couldn't get in to any school. It's not that his academics are that bad, it's that for whatever reason he waited until January to take his college entrance exams. A lot of programs (Miami, Rutgers, etc) that offered him early backed off because they had other players commit to fill their class and it wasn't worth waiting on a student that hadn't proven he could gain entrance to school. Minnesota had the benefit of already having one 4-star RB committed and another running back that redshirted last year so if Ward doesn't gain admissions we're still fine at the position. If Stephens wouldn't have decommitted we wouldn't be talking to Ward either.

The admissions differential between the SEC & Big 10 is real but it's a little different than the way most people represent it. Big 10 schools (and remember each institution sets it's own policies) are generally more demanding of the classes they choose to accept. For instance, Illinois wouldn't admit Craig Drummond in January because one of his HS classes was a correspondence course (done on the internet from home). They asked him to take the class in the spring and he would be enrolled for the fall. The kid had a 3.2 GPA and over 20 on his ACT so he was clearly good to go from NCAA clearinghouse standards. He ended up committing to Ole Miss because their admissions office would accept his correspondence course thereby allowing him to gain admission in January and compete for a starting position in spring practice. As a corollary the Big 10 is generally more demaning of Juco transfers because the classes they take must meet the standards of our institution(s) and some of the classes Juco's offer count toward their Associate degree but would not receive transfer credits at a school like Minnesota. This is no different than a student transferring from Normandale to the U or even transferring from another 4 year institution to the U.
Click to expand...

Best explanation I've heard yet. Thanks grunkie!
 

I believe it's tomorrow when Ward gets his ACT results, so we should hear more about it then. Sounds like he doesn't ecpect it to be a problem. With what Fitsch said about becoming a more pro-style offense, I think Ward would be a great fit at the U. I like the depth with Lipscomb, Bennett, & Eskeridge/Salomon. Adding Ward would make for some nice competition.
 

Thanks for the explanation Grunkie about Drummond. I'll back up your point about there is a big difference in what classes are accepted for JC players (SEC vs. Big10). If you read Meat Market (a book written documenting a year following Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss), Orgeron had high expectations he could beat out Illinois for a JUCO kid because he thought that Illinois wouldn't accept him because of classes.

And if you think back to the discussions that started this whole line of reasoning on this board, it was all about Anthony Leon and Taikwon Paige (2 JUCO guys) not being able to get into MN, but able to get into SEC schools.

So I don't really know if HS admissions are all that different, but JUCO admissions are.
 

Golden Elephant said:
And if you think back to the discussions that started this whole line of reasoning on this board, it was all about Anthony Leon and Taikwon Paige (2 JUCO guys) not being able to get into MN, but able to get into SEC schools.

So I don't really know if HS admissions are all that different, but JUCO admissions are.
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Good point GE. Since we are now competing more against SEC school's for our players, at some point there will be a high school player that can't get into Minnesota and will try an SEC school. How that plays out will help answer the question about which conference has the tougher admission standards for high school athletes.
 



Well we will all hopefully know by sometime tomorrow how the end of this story may end.
 

South Carolina

Wasn't he going to go to South Carolina, then their RB coach/recruiting coordinator that recruited him left. Regardless, he'd have to wait on an SAT or ACT score to be able to sign.
 

At least we now have to worry about SEC, been along time since we competed with top SEC teams for players.
 

amateurdwarftosser said:
Just checking to see if i am missing something here with regard to Trabis Ward.

A couple days ago people on here were talking about how much higher the admission standards are for the Big 10 vs those in the SEC. The prevailing thought there was if your academics were not in order for the Big 10, you can always go to an SEC school and they didnt care.

So, here we have a 4 star RB who's waiting on test scores to get into the University of Minnesota. He's had several other offers from other programs, some of which are in the SEC. Why hasnt he already signed to one of these 'lower standard' SEC schools? Are there other factors here that i am not aware of? I would think that there is a school out there who would love to have another 4 star in their class (as should we).

For the record, I hope this young man ends up at the U. We can always use more talent, it seems that we have had an OK track record taking on academically challenged students, and it seems that he wants to be here.
Click to expand...

you ask a very intriguing question...

there are a number of myths reguarding the 'u' and admissions/recruiting...
trabis ward is a baller...no doubt about it...he's a legit 4 star player...

he is being 'pushed' to the 'u'...as this is where he has the best opportunity of gaining admission...

think aboout it...did he even make it to the 'u' for his visit in late january? has he ever seen snow before?

the sec, in general, has low academic requirements, but they are not alone...there are other schools that can get the marginal student in...especially if he can play some ball...

brewster will continue to do arm-twisting with the admissions folks...
can any of us blame him?
 



dinkything said:
you ask a very intriguing question...

there are a number of myths reguarding the 'u' and admissions/recruiting...
trabis ward is a baller...no doubt about it...he's a legit 4 star player...

he is being 'pushed' to the 'u'...as this is where he has the best opportunity of gaining admission...

think aboout it...did he even make it to the 'u' for his visit in late january? has he ever seen snow before?

the sec, in general, has low academic requirements, but they are not alone...there are other schools that can get the marginal student in...especially if he can play some ball...

brewster will continue to do arm-twisting with the admissions folks...
can any of us blame him?
Click to expand...

Relax. The kid hasn't even gotten his entrance exams back yet. If they come back poor then you can make your statement. Until then your statement has little merit.
 

Sorry if this has already been stated but I passed over a lot of the stuff that had to do with admissions. An interview on YouTube asked Ward why he wanted to go to Minnesota. His response was that he liked our coaching staff and that Minnesota was a school with a tradition of producing RB's.
 



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