Curtis Hollis reclassifying at API

[GMG24]

Not good news for Benford and Co, good news is our football staff has another year to offer, bad news is so does everyone else. 

[TheTastyGreek]

16 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

Not good news for Benford and Co, good news is our football staff has another year to offer, bad news is so does everyone else. 

I can't imagine it will make a roach's ass worth of difference to Benford, unless he takes an assistant job somewhere else in time to recruit Hollis next year. 

For Benford, this is meaningless at worst, good news at best (since he might actually coach him if he recruits him elsewhere for 2017). 

[KRAM1]

1 hour ago, GMG24 said:

Not good news for Benford and Co, good news is our football staff has another year to offer, bad news is so does everyone else. 

OK...so, explain please.  I guess I am not following this one.

[GMG24]

54 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

OK...so, explain please.  I guess I am not following this one.

Reclassify is an epidemic among hoops stars... Usually done in 8th grade it's done to get an extra year under the kids belt.  Let's him develop physically. I haven't seen many seniors re classify but I'll post tweet in a minute to confirm. 

https://mobile.twitter.com/hoopdfw/status/689983274807095296

[TheTastyGreek]

29 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

OK...so, explain please.  I guess I am not following this one.

Reclassifying (link includes info about recent eligibility changes) means one of two things.

1) A player moves up his graduation date, meaning that a scheduled Class of 2017 graduate has his academics completed ahead of schedule and already has a qualifying standardized test score. He or she can reclassify to be a 2016 graduate, and start college (and his NCAA eligibility clock) a year ahead of his expected 4 year high school tenure would ordinarily allow. 

This is very unusual, for all the reasons one would reasonably assume (player is younger, smaller, less time to develop before college, accelerated academic calendar, less time to earn qualifying SAT/ACT scores, social issues, etc.). Not totally unheard of, examples include (at one point) Thon Maker, Isaac Humphries, Derryck Thornton, and potentially Zach Brown. 

Usually, guys in this category are blue chip recruits, either looking to accelerate the start of their pro career, or looking to develop at the college level rather than facing limited competition (especially post players) at the high school level. Guards may be looking for a one-and-done path to the NBA (and the gold at the end of that rainbow) a year faster. Centers may decide it makes more developmental sense to spend two years playing against D1 post players instead of one year beating up on 6'4" high school opponents and one year at university against equal competition. 

2) A player moves back his graduation date, meaning someone originally scheduled to graduate in 2016 would enroll in college in the Class of 2017 instead. Two ways this usually happens... Either the kid gets strategically held back in elementary or (more common) middle school, so that they have a year to grow and practice and play AAU, while still having 4 years of sports eligibility when they start high school. Just like college eligibility, the NCAA (and most states) start the high school clock based on first date of enrollment (see NCAA rule 14.3.1.2.1). 

Or, they wait a year before starting college, going to prep school instead. This is less useful than it used to be... The eligibility rules have changed, so that kids can only get one of their ten required core courses done in a prep school year (I think it used to be up to four). But, for a recruit who needs time to get ready for standardized tests and entrance exams, or who has scholarship potential but didn't get interest from their senior year of high school, prep school is a great chance to take an extra year to prepare and/or audition before making a 4 year commitment. 

Prep school isn't necessarily a red flag in a 5th year situation... Alzee Williams did a year at prep school after high school before signing with us. And Hollis is (presumably) enrolling at API after graduating from his current high school. 

However... API is very similar to Prime Prep, and other 4 year private school alternatives, which could be problematic for kids who are there instead of a normal public high school. There's a good two part series on API that mentions some past stories of local kids who ran into NCAA clearinghouse trouble (or temporary issues) going that route. Specifically, Emmanuel Mudiay, Jordan Mickey, Karviar Shepherd, and (not in the article) our own Tony Mitchell. 

API's roster for this year includes 3 players who are ranked top 10 in their respective classes, two of whom will be back next year to graduate in 2017. This year's seniors are committed to Baylor, Cincy, and Alabama. The article already mentions that this year has seen practice appearances by coaches from Baylor, North Carolina, Louisville, Arizona, and Nebraska. Hollis will be a part of that environment next year, meaning that if he has high major or power conference chops, he won't fly under anyone's radar given the audience that will be watching his practices and games. 

Whatever is motivating the decision, it seems very, very unlikely that we'll see Hollis in a UNT uniform. 

[GMG24]

11 hours ago, TheTastyGreek said:

Reclassifying (link includes info about recent eligibility changes) means one of two things.

1) A player moves up his graduation date, meaning that a scheduled Class of 2017 graduate has his academics completed ahead of schedule and already has a qualifying standardized test score. He or she can reclassify to be a 2016 graduate, and start college (and his NCAA eligibility clock) a year ahead of his expected 4 year high school tenure would ordinarily allow. 

This is very unusual, for all the reasons one would reasonably assume (player is younger, smaller, less time to develop before college, accelerated academic calendar, less time to earn qualifying SAT/ACT scores, social issues, etc.). Not totally unheard of, examples include (at one point) Thon Maker, Isaac Humphries, Derryck Thornton, and potentially Zach Brown. 

Usually, guys in this category are blue chip recruits, either looking to accelerate the start of their pro career, or looking to develop at the college level rather than facing limited competition (especially post players) at the high school level. Guards may be looking for a one-and-done path to the NBA (and the gold at the end of that rainbow) a year faster. Centers may decide it makes more developmental sense to spend two years playing against D1 post players instead of one year beating up on 6'4" high school opponents and one year at university against equal competition. 

2) A player moves back his graduation date, meaning someone originally scheduled to graduate in 2016 would enroll in college in the Class of 2017 instead. Two ways this usually happens... Either the kid gets strategically held back in elementary or (more common) middle school, so that they have a year to grow and practice and play AAU, while still having 4 years of sports eligibility when they start high school. Just like college eligibility, the NCAA (and most states) start the high school clock based on first date of enrollment (see NCAA rule 14.3.1.2.1). 

Or, they wait a year before starting college, going to prep school instead. This is less useful than it used to be... The eligibility rules have changed, so that kids can only get one of their ten required core courses done in a prep school year (I think it used to be up to four). But, for a recruit who needs time to get ready for standardized tests and entrance exams, or who has scholarship potential but didn't get interest from their senior year of high school, prep school is a great chance to take an extra year to prepare and/or audition before making a 4 year commitment. 

Prep school isn't necessarily a red flag in a 5th year situation... Alzee Williams did a year at prep school after high school before signing with us. And Hollis is (presumably) enrolling at API after graduating from his current high school. 

However... API is very similar to Prime Prep, and other 4 year private school alternatives, which could be problematic for kids who are there instead of a normal public high school. There's a good two part series on API that mentions some past stories of local kids who ran into NCAA clearinghouse trouble (or temporary issues) going that route. Specifically, Emmanuel Mudiay, Jordan Mickey, Karviar Shepherd, and (not in the article) our own Tony Mitchell. 

API's roster for this year includes 3 players who are ranked top 10 in their respective classes, two of whom will be back next year to graduate in 2017. This year's seniors are committed to Baylor, Cincy, and Alabama. The article already mentions that this year has seen practice appearances by coaches from Baylor, North Carolina, Louisville, Arizona, and Nebraska. Hollis will be a part of that environment next year, meaning that if he has high major or power conference chops, he won't fly under anyone's radar given the audience that will be watching his practices and games. 

Whatever is motivating the decision, it seems very, very unlikely that we'll see Hollis in a UNT uniform. 

Lot of times academics is a big cause of reclassifying so late from my understanding.  It has been done to give a kid more time to grow and mature especially if they are young for their class.  

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

I am guessing I reclassified in the 8th grade then!

We just called it being a Texas 8th grader.  Had to tell the school it was for maturity reasons.  Knowing all along it was for sports!

[GMG24]

6 hours ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

I am guessing I reclassified in the 8th grade then!

We just called it being a Texas 8th grader.  Had to tell the school it was for maturity reasons.  Knowing all along it was for sports!

Cheater!!