Khyri Thornton not coming to USF

[BowlBoundBulls]

According to Greg's blog,  Khyri is not coming because he was turned down by the school's academic board even though he was cleared by the NCAA.  I really had high hopes for him causing havoc in the DLine.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/

[Ruger7mmmag]

Geez, so basically most of our highest rated recruits aren't going to get to USF...I guess that step forward wasn't as big as we had thought...If you take out all the guys who we'll "lose", this class would fall back to the 40s...

This academic committee is making our coaches look like crap to recruits.  LOL  It's not like we're DUKE!  If a kid is good for the NCAA he's good enough to play football at USF.  As an alum this really is aggravating.  Folks need to get their heads out of their butts!  Football exists to market a school and MAKE $$$.  Leave the academic stuff to the honors program.  We're having a hard enough time competing as it is without shooting ourselves in the foot.  Treating **** recruits like this is a perfect way to lose one in the future.  Now we've set a trend of hyping up a kid to sign only to eventually throw him out with the trash...How embarrassing...

[gobulls83]

Geez, so basically most of our highest rated recruits aren't going to get to USF...I guess that step forward wasn't as big as we had thought...If you take out all the guys who we'll "lose", this class would fall back to the 40s...

This academic committee is making our coaches look like crap to recruits.  LOL  It's not like we're DUKE!  If a kid is good for the NCAA he's good enough to play football at USF.  As an alum this really is aggravating.  Folks need to get their heads out of their butts!  Football exists to market a school and MAKE $$$.  Leave the academic stuff to the honors program.  We're having a hard enough time competing as it is without shooting ourselves in the foot.  Treating **** recruits like this is a perfect way to lose one in the future.  Now we've set a trend of hyping up a kid to sign only to eventually throw him out with the trash...How embarrassing...

This is so off-base it's amazing. First of all, "most of our highest rated recruits" from this past class will be with the team come fall.

Second, how can you blast the school for maintaining a (slightly) higher standard for its athletes than is necessary? I don't see how this kid's failure to get admitted into USF can be seen as a black mark on Jim Leavitt. That it was a question at all whether he would be cleared by the NCAA is alarming enough.

[nobull.Bulls]

The fact that the NCAA cleared him but the "usf committee didnt" bothers me.

We got a lot of recruits ranked better than him and plenty of depth at DT without him. Best of luck to thornton wherever he goes

[Matt]

obviously our schools ranking in recent NCAA studies that are low enough to lose scholarships is being taken into account.

we still have enough recruits who DID qualify that will excell.

i wish we all knew what the "standards" are for what our own academic committee will or will not approve.

best of luck to Khyri.

[redfisher78]

Our APR is bottom of the BCS barrel. This is a needed step. I cant think of one of our "Top" recruits who isnt coming. The only one I thought of was Bellamy.

[Ruger7mmmag]

i wish we all knew what the "standards" are for what our own academic committee will or will not approve.

This!!!!  It's fine if you aren't going to let a kid in, but when you extend a kid a schollie, he clears the NCAA and then your own academic board then pulls it?  Makes us look like a bunch of MORONS! 

The point that we're ok in that position means NOTHING.  It's the point that our coaching staff for the second year in a row really just did a mind job on a recruit.

I've been through the recruiting stuff so I know exactly what's going through this kid's head.  You can bet that he's told everyone he knows he was going to USF, wearing the gear, probably bragging etc, and now he's DUMPED!  Not by the NCAA, but by USF!!! 

To a kid at this stage of their life, there's not much worse that can happen to you and you're crazy if you think anyone who likes this kid is ever going to pump USF to someone else they know.  Recruiting is all about reputation and it makes us look small time when we are letting guys go that the NCAA approves and WE OFFERED.

Forget losing this kid. How about the kid we didn't get bc of the time we put in on this one?  It's opportunity cost and reputation that we just WASTED.

We look so amateur right now...If I was this kid I'd be pissed and think we were an absolute joke...you can bet the recruiters from our rivals will be using this one and last years when they are in a kids ear we want on the next go around...

"How do you know your LOI is really any good at USF?  See what happened to these kids...their coaches can't even back up their promises to you.  Come to us, we'll stand by our word.  If we promise you a schollie when you sign, you'll have one!  Don't waste your time with USF, their small time and it shows that they don't even know how to work with their own friggin committee and it doesn't matter if you're cleared by the NCAA.  If the coaches don't even know you can get in, how can you feel so confident about that LOI?"

Typical of an "academic committee"...no common sense...

[Cubanbull]

Wasnt that the way we landed the OG Bass?

He was given a scholarship to Illinois, accepted it and the Illinois declined his admission for not having met their requirements and he signs with the Bulls

[Ruger7mmmag]

No clue, but if we want to be the best we need to work the system like the best do.  The only thing you see keeping a recruit out of UF, Southern Cal, Texas, etc is the NCAA or jail...not their own committees...

[SANJAY]

There were a couple other kids this happened to at USF the last couple years.  Also happened at S.Carolina.  My biggest gripe is that the fact he was borderline was probably known, and I am concerned he was not told.  I hope the academic committee communicated better here with the coaching staff than they did a couple years ago with Justin Green where it came out of the blue.

Now I agree that if a kid meets the NCAA standards he should be admitted.  However, the academic committee is working in an environment where the school find sitself defending against statements like Nick Saban's, the OTL piece about special admissions and the APR scores.  Your response as a university can be "hey these are the things that happen everywhere in college football" and ignore them or crack down on some of the more marginal students, because the NCAA requirements are almost laughable.  If he came aboard and then flunks out he counts against the APR, this way he does not. 

I liked the kid and he is a very good athlete.  Best of luck to him.