Arden Key still has two seasons of football left to play at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Lithonia, Georgia, but the 6-foot-5, 200-pound defensive end has already created a furor with comments made in the wake of his early verbal commitment to the University of South Carolina.
Key – who gave his non-binding commitment to the Gamecocks earlier this week – seemed to indicate one of his reasons for choosing USC was the school’s less-than-rigorous academic standards.
“The academic part, it’s like you have to try to fail,” the highly touted recruit told recruiting analyst Phil Kornblut.
Hmmmmmm …
Not surprisingly, Key’s comment instantly went viral – with the flagship institution for the dumb-as-dirt Palmetto State taking predictable flak. In fact we have no doubt Key’s comment will spark allegations that USC is coddling its football superstars in the classroom – giving the NCAA another reason to come to town and probe a program which has has been busted committing more than a few minor violations in recent years.
Yet what Kornblut neglected to mention in his story was the context for Key’s quote – his visit last week to USC’s Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichment Center.
“I liked the academic center,” Key said. “The academic center makes you want to study.”
In other words the kid was saying the academic support network at South Carolina is solid – meaning it would take some serious effort on the part of a student-athlete not to pass academic muster.
What’s controversial about that, exactly?
Obviously it’s no secret student-athletes at major Division I-A (a.k.a. FBS schools) get all sorts of help when it comes to their studies. And it’s also no secret these student-athletes are taking classes like African-American studies as opposed to, say, Rocket Science 101.
But to presume USC is doling out more special treatment to its athletes than other schools is ridiculous …
All of this takes us back to our fundamental point: Arden Key isn’t going to be the walk-on backup deep snapper for some Division III liberal arts college, he’s going to be (or at least has the potential to be) a starting defensive lineman in the Southeastern Conference. And if he excels there, he could very well wind up playing football on Sundays in the National Football League.
None of that is to say Key should neglect his studies (and based on his comments it doesn’t sound like he’s going to do that), but this whole kerfuffle is yet another reminder that SEC football is first and foremost a multi-billion-dollar-a-year business, and pretending it’s something it isn’t just embarrasses everybody involved in the debate.
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94 comments
LMAO!! The truth hurts!! If Clowney can pass, this kid should be a scholar!!
These comments about Clowney are so ridiculous, and their pervasiveness does border on racist. He qualified to play, and would have gotten into any school that he chose. Yes, including Clemson. Clemson has no different standards for HS athletes than USC, although it does have higher standards for JUCO transfers.
There’s no “border” about it. Half the commenters at FitsNews do nothing but reinforce the notion that South Carolina is the final repository of blatant racism in the U.S.
Last season they struggled to keep Clowney eligible due to his grades. They ended up having him labled learning disabled and he takes high school level courses due to this. I just wonder why he was not diagnosed until college.
Spurrier would have fretted to leave.
Can you support any of this? Note, citations to Clemson message boards do not count. And do not kid yourself that any school does not have a syllabus of pretty easy courses to keep athletes eligible. CJ Spiller scored the lowest on the Wonderlic that you can get and still be considered literate, yet he was on the Dean’s List at Clemson.
“They ended up having him labled learning disabled and he takes high school level courses due to this. I just wonder why he was not diagnosed until college.”
By the way, he was diagnosed in middle school (“A source familiar with Clowney’s academic situation confirmed he was diagnosed with his learning disability in middle school by Rock Hill School District Three”), and he acknowledged his condition when he was still in HS. But do not let the facts get in the way of your attempts to rationalize these attacks on this young man. http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Jadeveon-Clowney-says-he-will-be-eligible-to-play-football-at-South-Carolina-021411
So how did he score high enough to get into college? Did USC just lower their admission standards to take students who read and write at a jr. high school level?
Read the article, genius. It gives his ACT score and the GPA he needed to be eligible under the NCAA guidelines. The NCAA has to sign off on every admitted student-athlete. Did Clemson lower its admission standards to take in Spiller?
To be honest, it kinda makes me happy for the guy. Thanks to good genes and intense training (if he keeps playing his cards right) he’ll have a much brighter future than many LD.
Hopefully he’ll go on to the NFL without any problems and marry someone who very, very smart so, hopefully, his kids get dad’s brawn and mom’s intellect.
LMAO!! The truth hurts!! If Clowney can pass, this kid should be a scholar!!
These comments about Clowney are so ridiculous, and their pervasiveness does border on racist. He qualified to play, and would have gotten into any school that he chose. Yes, including Clemson. Clemson has no different standards for HS athletes than USC, although it does have higher standards for JUCO transfers.
There’s no “border” about it. Half the commenters at FitsNews do nothing but reinforce the notion that South Carolina is the final repository of blatant racism in the U.S.
Last season they struggled to keep Clowney eligible due to his grades. They ended up having him labled learning disabled and he takes high school level courses due to this. I just wonder why he was not diagnosed until college.
Spurrier would have fretted to leave.
Can you support any of this? Note, citations to Clemson message boards do not count. And do not kid yourself that any school does not have a syllabus of pretty easy courses to keep athletes eligible. CJ Spiller scored the lowest on the Wonderlic that you can get and still be considered literate, yet he was on the Dean’s List at Clemson.
“They ended up having him labled learning disabled and he takes high school level courses due to this. I just wonder why he was not diagnosed until college.”
By the way, he was diagnosed in middle school (“A source familiar with Clowney’s academic situation confirmed he was diagnosed with his learning disability in middle school by Rock Hill School District Three”), and he acknowledged his condition when he was still in HS. But do not let the facts get in the way of your attempts to rationalize these attacks on this young man. http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Jadeveon-Clowney-says-he-will-be-eligible-to-play-football-at-South-Carolina-021411
So how did he score high enough to get into college? Did USC just lower their admission standards to take students who read and write at a jr. high school level?
Read the article, genius. It gives his ACT score and the GPA he needed to be eligible under the NCAA guidelines. The NCAA has to sign off on every admitted student-athlete. Did Clemson lower its admission standards to take in Spiller?
To be honest, it kinda makes me happy for the guy. Thanks to good genes and intense training (if he keeps playing his cards right) he’ll have a much brighter future than many LD.
Hopefully he’ll go on to the NFL without any problems and marry someone who very, very smart so, hopefully, his kids get dad’s brawn and mom’s intellect.
Went viral ? Everything goes viral now it seems. In context it was a compliment to Carolina’s tudor program.
But in the mind’s of morons it will be whatever they want it to be.There are a lot of those
to go viral or blank….whatever comes first.
“But in the mind’s of morons…”
You don’t need an apostrophe to pluralize something.
Or know that it’s “tutor.” The Tudors were an English royal family.
Are you sure? Damn!!! You gotta fucking be kidding me!!!
I’ve never heard or certainly not known that ever !!!! Not in my fucking life!!
Yeah well try to work and do five thing’s ..(.oops! ) at once has always made me misspell and botch simple grammar.
The grammar Nazi’s never fail to be the turds in the collective punch bowl.
If we were writing term papers, fine. It’s the comment section of the only worthwhile news outlet in SC….that also highlights hot chicks and other stuff at times….so how high should the bar be?
A lot of times it’s used as a weapon in an argument they are losing. Usually it’s not relevant, although on occasion I take notice when someone is commenting on a specific topic and gets the spelling surrounding specific technical terms of said topic wrong.
But that’s a different matter. All in all, who cares? Screw’em.
Thanks. Yes I like this site for the substance,if any and the various perceptions that are represented in the comments.
A big problem is NO typing skills or time to check and redo any errors.
The grammar Nazi’s can take their shots fwiw….not much!
Spelling counts???
I bet they won’t ever ax him anything else
Went viral ? Everything goes viral now it seems. In context it was a compliment to Carolina’s tudor program.
But in the mind’s of morons it will be whatever they want it to be.There are a lot of those
to go viral or blank….whatever comes first.
“But in the mind’s of morons…”
You don’t need an apostrophe to pluralize something.
Or know that it’s “tutor.” The Tudors were an English royal family.
Are you sure? Damn!!! You gotta fucking be kidding me!!!
I’ve never heard or certainly not known that ever !!!! Not in my fucking life!!
Yeah well try to work and do five thing’s ..(.oops! ) at once has always made me misspell and botch simple grammar.
The grammar Nazi’s never fail to be the turds in the collective punch bowl.
If we were writing term papers, fine. It’s the comment section of the only worthwhile news outlet in SC….that also highlights hot chicks and other stuff at times….so how high should the bar be?
A lot of times it’s used as a weapon in an argument they are losing. Usually it’s not relevant, although on occasion I take notice when someone is commenting on a specific topic and gets the spelling surrounding specific technical terms of said topic wrong.
But that’s a different matter. All in all, who cares? Screw’em.
Thanks. Yes I like this site for the substance,if any and the various perceptions that are represented in the comments.
A big problem is NO typing skills or time to check and redo any errors.
The grammar Nazi’s can take their shots fwiw….not much!
Spelling counts???
I bet they won’t ever ax him anything else
FITS said: “with the flagship institution for the dumb-as-dirt Palmetto State”……
Doesn’t FITS claim to have 2 degress, including a graduate degree, from USC, and his father rode the gravy train, being PAID by us to TEACH at USC….Dumb@$$….
LMAO…Explains A LOT…
PS: Only effeminate hand-wringers, like FITS trying to Suck-Off Clemson, would make a big deal over this. You are so in agony about getting your @$$#$ trounced year after year, you will try anything to get the attention off your Cupcake Program, in the sissy, loser ACC…
I care about football. If you’re soiling your panties over high academics, Dismantle your joke of a football program….Dabo can always go back to selling used cars, or whatever he was doing before yall made him head-fool in-charge…
My daughter graduated Cum Laude from USC and she says with all of the help the profs give the athletes, one has to be dumber than dirt to fail. Then she followed it up with “You know, like Clowney.”
Disgusting to see FILTHY RACISTS still in full and hate-filled glory…and they teach their children their same nasty habits…
Hitler would be real proud of you, and your daughter…
Uh, how do you know that the poster you’re responding to isn’t the same race as Clowney? You don’t. You always call people out for playing the race card, yet here you are, doing the same…
His daughter is only attackling Clowney because of his skin color. It’s like FITS. when leftwingers, or Liberal-Tarians, HATE…they use race to attack their enemies…
Why are you dis-avowing your dogma all of a sudden….
You know this how? Seems you’re playing the race card, Dumbass.
I don’t know, the way he dressed when being introduced in the South Carolina legislature sure didn’t speak well of his manners, decorum or any level of refinement or education, rather insulting actually.
*attacking
*disavowing
I’m black.
You’re a Nutjob, too. Why are you “correcting” words that are correct???…kinda kooky…
That pesky edit function is making T look literate.
And in reality, not one person gives a fuck what BIgT/GrandTango has to say.
Squishy, defending Racists…why am I not surprised…????
Did you know that black people are the most racist people on the planet?
NAH! no way.
Damn. She graduated with a cum load?
My daughter graduated Cum Laude from USC and she says with all of the help the profs give the athletes, one has to be dumber than dirt to fail. Then she followed it up with “You know, like Clowney.”
Damn. She graduated with a cum load?
I do really enjoy the glasshouse mentality of the Clemson fans in this thread. CJ Spiller was a Dean’s List student at Clemson, yet he scored a 10 on the Wonderlic, which is the lowest you can score and still be considered literate.
WHAT????…CJ Spiller is considered literate???…Stop the presses…He may be the first Clemson football grad in history to obtain such a high (for them) academic accomplishment…
I knew about the Wonderlic score….I had no idea about him being on the Dean’s list of Clemson-that’s sad.
I guess it doesn’t surprise me…one of the schools I went to had a “secret” list of classes available to the scholarship athletes…I remember getting a copy(before internet registration) and one of the classes was “Geography of (the state school was in)”.
It actually counted towards a degree requirement…and wasn’t offered to the general student population.
Spiller was also first-team Academic All-ACC. And I am not trying to pick on Spiller, he is just a good example for those wearing orange colored glasses that ALL major colleges go to great lengths to make it easy for their players to stay eligible.
I know a guy who was a scholarship athlete at UNC, albeit not in football or basketball. He has related some very interesting stories about the corners they cut for students.
Yeah, good points. I’m sure it’s happening at almost all schools.
Hockey & Baseball seem to have better leagues for player development than other sports that rely on colleges….they don’t have to pretend that the athletically gifted kids are there for anything other than their physical talent.
The only problem I see is that it somewhat lessens the degree that the students are getting when no distinction is made.
Main line sports draws in tons of revenue to larger university’s, usually way more than the costs. Not that giving away diplomas is justified…but just sayin’.
I do really enjoy the glasshouse mentality of the Clemson fans in this thread. CJ Spiller was a Dean’s List student at Clemson, yet he scored a 10 on the Wonderlic, which is the lowest you can score and still be considered literate.
I knew about the Wonderlic score….I had no idea about him being on the Dean’s list of Clemson-that’s sad.
I guess it doesn’t surprise me…one of the schools I went to had a “secret” list of classes available to the scholarship athletes…I remember getting a copy(before internet registration) and one of the classes was “Geography of (the state school was in)”.
It actually counted towards a degree requirement…and wasn’t offered to the general student population.
Spiller was also first-team Academic All-ACC. And I am not trying to pick on Spiller, he is just a good example for those wearing orange colored glasses that ALL major colleges go to great lengths to make it easy for their players to stay eligible.
I know a guy who was a scholarship athlete at UNC, albeit not in football or basketball. He has related some very interesting stories about the corners they cut for students.
Yeah, good points. I’m sure it’s happening at almost all schools.
Hockey & Baseball seem to have better leagues for player development than other sports that rely on colleges….they don’t have to pretend that the athletically gifted kids are there for anything other than their physical talent.
The only problem I see is that it somewhat lessens the degree that the students are getting when no distinction is made.
Main line sports draws in tons of revenue to larger university’s, usually way more than the costs. Not that giving away diplomas is justified…but just sayin’.
From a Clemson fan. . . . . .
Kornblut and the rest of these recruiting hacks are trying to find a headline, any headline, to sell ads. They call these kids every day, all day, and harass them or ask them leading questions. Then, they take a comment out of context (or even in context) to push traffic to their website. Hell, polished pros at speaking (aka politicians) put their foot in their mouth when harassed by reporters, asked loaded questions, etc. (See Jeff Duncan article above). They want a controversy, any controversy.
This kid is correct – with the tutoring and resources available, you do have to try to fail. That’s at any big school. There is a staff devoted to keeping these cash cows in school.
As stated, these recruiting gurus are scum.
Kornblut is a higly regarded sports commentator in addition to being a “scum recruiting guru”. Fits is over selling the very brief “article”, nothing to see here, move along.
From a Clemson fan. . . . . .
Kornblut and the rest of these recruiting hacks are trying to find a headline, any headline, to sell ads. They call these kids every day, all day, and harass them or ask them leading questions. Then, they take a comment out of context (or even in context) to push traffic to their website. Hell, polished pros at speaking (aka politicians) put their foot in their mouth when harassed by reporters, asked loaded questions, etc. (See Jeff Duncan article above). They want a controversy, any controversy.
This kid is correct – with the tutoring and resources available, you do have to try to fail. That’s at any big school. There is a staff devoted to keeping these cash cows in school.
As stated, these recruiting gurus are scum.
Kornblut is a higly regarded sports commentator in addition to being a “scum recruiting guru”. Fits is over selling the very brief “article”, nothing to see here, move along.
DE Recruit Casualty of Lazy Journalism
http://www.lostlettermen.com/arden-key-south-carolina/
DE Recruit Casualty of Lazy Journalism
http://www.lostlettermen.com/arden-key-south-carolina/
There are field trips to the state house where they are questioned about where they just went? Acceptable answers on test: Columbia, State House, big house, South Carolina, Jail, ect.
There are field trips to the state house where they are questioned about where they just went? Acceptable answers on test: Columbia, State House, big house, South Carolina, Jail, ect.
Why do these student-athletes need tutors, note takers, and test takers to pass the difficult courses one finds in such majors such as African-American Studies, Sociology, Sports Management, General Studies, and Physical Education? What would happen if they majored in things such as Accounting, Engineering, Biology or any other legitimate major?
Why do these student-athletes need tutors, note takers, and test takers to pass the difficult courses one finds in such majors such as African-American Studies, Sociology, Sports Management, General Studies, and Physical Education? What would happen if they majored in things such as Accounting, Engineering, Biology or any other legitimate major?
Get over yourselves, y’all. It is what it is. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dumb as dirt black guy, white guy, mexican, whatever, if they can play football, they’ll get through college. Bottom line is, if you ain’t a star, you’ll be resigned to play for a whole shitload less money and maybe you’ll eek out a living afterwards as something on a college staff or be an announcer somewhere. The guys that make all the big bucks will probably blow it away on blow an’ wimmins eventually.
All of this athletic shit is about one thing, money, plain and simple. It isn’t about transforming young folks into adults, it’s about money. Sure, there may be a program, or two, that continue to exist as a window dressing, but if you didn’t have the major sports, football, baseball, basketball, you may as well close down the athletic departments and go back to being an institution of higher learning, gods forbid.
College is what you make it. If you go for education and to learn a profession, you can, but it’ll cost you money and study. If you go for sports, we don’ needs no books an’ shit, mofo. I gots me some skills coach.
In my day if’n I could git ’em in, I could keep ’em. The alternative was goin’ back to that farm in Dillon County or the warp room in a Spartanburg textile mill.
You ever sniffed mule farts while plowing or worked in the warp room?
I didn’t think so. Nuff said.
Get over yourselves, y’all. It is what it is. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dumb as dirt black guy, white guy, mexican, whatever, if they can play football, they’ll get through college. Bottom line is, if you ain’t a star, you’ll be resigned to play for a whole shitload less money and maybe you’ll eek out a living afterwards as something on a college staff or be an announcer somewhere. The guys that make all the big bucks will probably blow it away on blow an’ wimmins eventually.
All of this athletic shit is about one thing, money, plain and simple. It isn’t about transforming young folks into adults, it’s about money. Sure, there may be a program, or two, that continue to exist as a window dressing, but if you didn’t have the major sports, football, baseball, basketball, you may as well close down the athletic departments and go back to being an institution of higher learning, gods forbid.
College is what you make it. If you go for education and to learn a profession, you can, but it’ll cost you money and study. If you go for sports, we don’ needs no books an’ shit, mofo. I gots me some skills coach.
In my day if’n I could git ’em in, I could keep ’em. The alternative was goin’ back to that farm in Dillon County or the warp room in a Spartanburg textile mill.
You ever sniffed mule farts while plowing or worked in the warp room?
I didn’t think so. Nuff said.
College football fans are so fucking ridiculous. Especially, gamecock fans. 75% of them have never even taken a college level class in their lives.
This is the first thing I found really strange when I moved to SC. I love it here, but it still sometimes baffles me how many people that have never taken a college class go crazy over USC/Clemson football, etc.
The only explanation I can think of is that SC has no professional sports teams…so the colleges have filled that gap.
It still remains an oddity to me given my life experience in other areas of the country.
Personally, I love minor league sports over college and even sometimes over professional.
College football fans are so fucking ridiculous. Especially, gamecock fans. 75% of them have never even taken a college level class in their lives.
This is the first thing I found really strange when I moved to SC. I love it here, but it still sometimes baffles me how many people that have never taken a college class go crazy over USC/Clemson football, etc.
The only explanation I can think of is that SC has no professional sports teams…so the colleges have filled that gap.
It still remains an oddity to me given my life experience in other areas of the country.
Personally, I love minor league sports over college and even sometimes over professional.
I have been waiting for next year since 1946. During that time so many good alumni have done heroic deeds to make Carolina a national champion. Now that we’re actually getting to the point where we might just make it, all these people are criticizing because we’re too big and we tutor athletes,etc, etc. Well guess what, we’ve been tutoring athletes since we drained the mines of Pennsylvania after WWII. And if you did well for the University, there was a really good chance that if you didn’t go pro, there’d be a place for you in a business downtown. You didn’t even have to win, you just had to play with spirit and give it all you had. I don’t even know why I’m such a fan, Carolina has given me more anxious moments than I’d care for. But every week in the fall, every game in the spring, I’m there or by the radio or the TV.
If this young man wants to think he’ll skate through, let him. He’ll get plenty of help. But he’ll be the one who has to pass.
I have been waiting for next year since 1946. During that time so many good alumni have done heroic deeds to make Carolina a national champion. Now that we’re actually getting to the point where we might just make it, all these people are criticizing because we’re too big and we tutor athletes,etc, etc. Well guess what, we’ve been tutoring athletes since we drained the mines of Pennsylvania after WWII. And if you did well for the University, there was a really good chance that if you didn’t go pro, there’d be a place for you in a business downtown. You didn’t even have to win, you just had to play with spirit and give it all you had. I don’t even know why I’m such a fan, Carolina has given me more anxious moments than I’d care for. But every week in the fall, every game in the spring, I’m there or by the radio or the TV.
If this young man wants to think he’ll skate through, let him. He’ll get plenty of help. But he’ll be the one who has to pass.
Do he trance channel Michael so another recruited DL can talk to Michael?
Do he trance channel Michael so another recruited DL can talk to Michael?
You are all a bunch of buffoon’s if you think athletes aren’t getting special treatment at both Clemson and USC. My wife got her undergrad and graduate degrees from USC and she said that the athletes would show up the first day of class and from then on there was someone else sitting in for them. I went to Clemson, but did not have any classes with athletes but there is not a doubt in my mind the same happens there.
Neither school nor their fans has any room to talk about ” dumb-as-dirt” athletes. From “The Fridge” to George Rogers, and from Clowney to Spiller, we have all had our share those lacking in the brains department.
You are all a bunch of buffoon’s if you think athletes aren’t getting special treatment at both Clemson and USC. My wife got her undergrad and graduate degrees from USC and she said that the athletes would show up the first day of class and from then on there was someone else sitting in for them. I went to Clemson, but did not have any classes with athletes but there is not a doubt in my mind the same happens there.
Neither school nor their fans has any room to talk about ” dumb-as-dirt” athletes. From “The Fridge” to George Rogers, and from Clowney to Spiller, we have all had our share those lacking in the brains department.