Miscellaneous Recruiting items

[RoyalShock]

Wonder if this all came about by them not giving him a release (if that's what happened)?

I'm not surprised by all this. Player says he doesn't want to play there and wants to go where the coach who recruited him went. Player is told no, you have to play here. Player is disgruntled toward coaches. Coaches are now disgruntled toward the player.

I almost wonder if they knew this was going to happen and didn't grant the release as a form of retaliation knowing it would likely sabotage the rest of DeWitt's eligibility. This is Larry Eustacy we're talking about.

This is why a school almost always, eventually, grants a release when requested.

[WSUwatcher]

If true, that's unfortunate. What happens if he just quits and leaves USM? Presumably he has one year of eligibility left, but would he still need a release to go anywhere else?

[ripemupshocks]

I really feel for the players in these types of situations. Everybody else, administrators, coachs, regular students, can quit a school any time they want. But even if the circumstances change, (such as a change in the coaching staff) a student athlete is bound by the LOI. I would think some bright boy lawyer might take up the cause of the student athlete and sue the NCAA. Claiming the LOI is a contract. And the circumstances under which the contract was signed have changed. Therefore the contract is null and void.

[ShockTalk]

I believe he would have a year and a half left. I don't believe a release would be needed as now he sets out a year (another form of coach's retaliation by not giving the release). I'm not sure Eustacy is that well thought of, but a quality season can cure that. However, if things don't go well, this situation could add to his problems and make it more difficult to latch on elsewhere.

[pinstripers]

Well, if he's not a major pain in the azz, we need him.

[tropicalshox]

Coach Marshall was at this evening's session of the Chick-Fil-a Classic in Columbia, S.C. Here is a link of the scheduled games:

http://chick-fil-aclassic.com/schedule_game.shtml

[ShockTalk]

I have no idea, if made available, whether our staff would, or even should, take a look at DeWitt. That said, I'm not intending to beat this horse to death, I just find the Keith DeWitt saga interesting/strange.

We are now into the second semester as far as games are concerned and there is still no DeWitt sighting or updated comments by Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles played a non-DI team tonight, winning 93-48, and no DeWitt in the box score. Two players saw only their second and third appearances of the season (5 and 7 minutes total for the season), so one would have thought, if DeWitt was going to ever play for the Golden Eagles again, it would have started tonight. He is still listed on the team's roster. If he was going to play DI elsewhere, would he not have dropped out at the semester from S Miss? Could he potentially lose a full year of eligibility? It's just odd that I can find anything that says he has officially left the team, voluntarily or otherwise. Maybe an announcement is still forthcoming before classes resume.

Just strange stuff for a player so highly touted. Maybe he's heading his wagon to Europe.

[tropicalshox]

I have no idea, if made available, whether our staff would, or even should, take a look at DeWitt. That said, I'm not intending to beat this horse to death, I just find the Keith DeWitt saga interesting/strange.

We are now into the second semester as far as games are concerned and there is still no DeWitt sighting or updated comments by Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles played a non-DI team tonight, winning 93-48, and no DeWitt in the box score. Two players saw only their second and third appearances of the season (5 and 7 minutes total for the season), so one would have thought, if DeWitt was going to ever play for the Golden Eagles again, it would have started tonight. He is still listed on the team's roster. If he was going to play DI elsewhere, would he not have dropped out at the semester from S Miss? Could he potentially lose a full year of eligibility? It's just odd that I can find anything that says he has officially left the team, voluntarily or otherwise. Maybe an announcement is still forthcoming before classes resume.

Just strange stuff for a player so highly touted. Maybe he's heading his wagon to Europe.

In the last few days Virginia announced two players are transferring out of their program. It's still the season.

[WSUwatcher]

I just clicked on the USM website and confirmed that DeWitt is still listed on their roster, and has played a total of 27 minutes in two games. That being the case, unless he's injured (and could get a medical redshirt year, which isn't automatic), he has already used up his third year of eligibility. There are no half years -- that went out not long after Dave Stallworth's on-and-off playing days ended.

The only question at this point if DeWitt were to leave USM would be how soon he'd be eligible to start playing his final season. If he enrolled someplace else for the second semester (which hasn't started yet), I believe he'd be eligible at his new home once he sat out a full year -- thus, once that school's first semester ended next season, which would leave him with actually less than one full season to go. So there's no advantage to his leaving now.

[ShockTalk]

I just clicked on the USM website and confirmed that DeWitt is still listed on their roster, and has played a total of 27 minutes in two games. That being the case, unless he's injured (and could get a medical redshirt year, which isn't automatic), he has already used up his third year of eligibility. There are no half years

You are correct, watcher. Perhaps, if he did request a release prior to the season starting and didn't get it, S Miss has decided to honor the schollie for a full year. That's still to be seen. Does anyone know if he has been on the bench or practicing at all? If he hasn't been practicing, he's of little use to the Eagles for the rest of the season.

[tropicalshox]

Last I heard he is not practicing and not on the bench. It would be a surprise if he plays for them again.

[tropicalshox]

A Shocker coach was at the recent Hinsdale Central (Il) vs. Chicago's Morgan Park game. We were probably looking at Morgan Park's 6-8 PF Xzavier Taylor (2013) and 5-9 PG Markee Williams (2013) and perhaps Morgan Park's SG, Kain Harris who is in the class of 2015 and already has a K-State offer.

[WSUwatcher]

"Zxavier" -- really? What's his nickname, Scrabble? Or is that a typo?

[tropicalshox]

"Zxavier" -- really? What's his nickname, Scrabble? Or is that a typo?

Typo, it's Xzavier.

[WSUwatcher]

Thanks, trop. I was about to injure myself trying to pronounce the other version, which admittedly seemed unlikely -- but these days one never knows.