Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Re: [gatortalk] FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Top Signee Denied Admission By UF

The following was posted on GatorSports forum by Zach Abolverdi of the Gainesville SUN. It doesn't offer much more than you have already read, but summarizes very well.

For those bashing Muschamp about Dante Phillips' denial ...

by Zach Abolverdi » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:04 pm

I'm sure he feels the same way Steve Spurrier the last time this happened at Florida, which was in 2000.

It was to a defensive tackle who ended up going to Miami ... and I think we're going to see déjà vu with Dante Phillips.

Florida coach Steve Spurrier sent a letter to the university admissions office following its decision to not allow recruit Santonio Thomas to enter school.

Spurrier sent the letter to the admissions department and admissions director Bill Kolb on Aug. 11. Thomas, from Glades Central High, signed with Florida in February, but his letter-of-intent was later rejected because he did not meet the school's academic standards. Thomas was declared a full academic qualifier by the NCAA.

Once rejected by UF, Thomas decided to sign with Miami and currently is playing for the Hurricanes.

"If Santonio Thomas helps Miami kick our butts when we play them in 2002 and 2003, I hope Mr. Kolb and his committee realize their contributions to our football team and our university," Spurrier said in the letter.

While the primary blame goes to Phillips for not making the necessary grades, I personally think the UF admissions office should be able to accept a kid that the NCAA qualifies as academically eligible. That's just me.

But if you're going to fault someone besides Phillips, don't point the finger at Muschamp. He has no control over this situation and probably shares the same frustration Spurrier did 12 years ago.

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Re: For those bashing Muschamp about Dante Phillips' denial ...

by Zach Abolverdi » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:33 pm

GatorAvatar wrote: Zach, do you have any further information regarding exactly what happened? You guys should be the insiders with access to information we might not be privy to.

There's obviously more to the story and I can't get into the specifics of some of the stuff I've been told. But I will say that UF admissions told Phillips he had to make a certain GPA in his last term if he was to going to have a shot at being accepted and he failed to meet that requirement. Simple as that.

And again, there was nothing Muschamp could do. Some of the things that were said about him Monday were just inaccurate and out of line. And unfortunately for UF, specifically Muschamp and his staff, they don't get to tell their side of the story.

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From: Mark Blackburn <gogators94@sbcglobal.net>
To: "gatortalk@googlegroups.com" <gatortalk@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, July 2, 2012 4:42:19 PM
Subject: Re: [gatortalk] FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Top Signee Denied Admission By UF

Fowler is cleared and will be at UF on Tuesday.

Phillips sounds fishy.

I hope Bullard gets cleared by tomorrow.

From: Randy Platt <PCGator@Tampabay.rr.com>
To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, July 2, 2012 4:24 PM
Subject: [gatortalk] FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Top Signee Denied Admission By UF

Anybody got any inside scoop on what is going on here? Phillips, Fowler, Bullard?

Randy Platt

aka "PCGator"

aka "The Armchair Quarterback"

aka "The Other Randy"

Later Gators! Afterwhile the Rest!

From: gatornews@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatornews@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Shane Ford
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 12:46 PM
To: GatorNEWS
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Top Signee Denied Admission By UF

Top signee denied admission by UF

By Robbie Andreu
Gainesville SUN Staff writer

Published: Monday, July 2, 2012 at 12:11 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 2, 2012 at 12:11 p.m.

Four-star defensive tackle Dante Phillips has been denied admission to the University of Florida, according to his stepfather, Damon Wilson.

"We were kind of blindsided," Wilson said Monday. "He did everything he needed to do to be cleared by the (NCAA) Clearing House, but now he's been told he doesn't have a scholarship to Florida.

"He's been cleared by the NCAA. He's academically eligible. But the admissions office says he can't enroll at Florida. If he can't get in there, we have to look at other places. He's got some offers out there. He's totally qualified (academically)."

Wilson said Phillips is appealing the decision with the admissions office, but that he does not expect to win the appeal.

"We'll know something later this week," Wilson said. "There's only a small chance of them reversing the decision."

UF officials could not comment on Phillips' academic situation.

Phillips, who attended Venice High School, committed to the Gators more than two years ago and signed with the Gators in February after strongly considering Miami in the closing weeks of the recruiting season.

Wilson said Phillips always thought he was in good shape academically to enroll at Florida.

Phillips was in Gainesville last Thursday when UF informed him he had been denied admission.

"Something like this should never happen," Wilson said.

Two other highly rated defensive line signees — Dante Fowler and Jonathan Bullard — also are dealing with academic issues and have not been cleared by the admissions office to enroll.

Sources said Fowler and Bullard's situations are different than Phillips'. They have not been denied admission at this stage and there is a chance both could be cleared to enroll.

Fowler's father tweeted last week that Fowler would be in Gainesville today.

Contact Robbie Andreu at 352-374-5022 or andreur@gvillesun.com. Also check out Andreu's blog at Gatorsports.com.

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