More on Powe

Below is a portion of the NCAA press release on Jerrell Powe. As you will read it, you will see that the NCAA has evidently created a new form of eligibility which will allow Powe to attend Ole Miss on an athletic scholarship but will not allow him to participate on the football team.

This has set off a fire in the Rebel nation on the internet message boards. Many of those who claim to be in the know have lead the Ole Miss faithful to believe this would finally be the year Powe would be admitted. Evidently they were wrong.

Ole Miss has released a statement that they will be appealing the decisions based on two seperate criterias. Donald Jackson, Powe's attorney, has also threatened to file a lawsuit.

I guess all is not over in this case, but the third time was not the charm for Powe.

INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA staff has partially approved an initial eligibility waiver for football prospective student-athlete Jerrell Powe. With this decision, Powe will be allowed to receive athletically related financial aid to attend classes. However, he will be ineligible for practice and competition until meeting NCAA and institutional academic requirements in college. The earliest Powe could participate is fall 2008.

"The idea for determining if student-athletes are academically eligible to participate in college sports is to ensure that the rigors of practice and competition do not interfere with the primary reason student-athletes enroll in college - to get an education," said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of membership services. "Mr. Powe has not achieved sufficient academic success under NCAA rules to permit athletics participation."

In a separate decision, the NCAA staff expressed concern that Mr. Powe completed a significant amount of coursework in an unusually limited amount of time -- much shorter than the average time it takes students to complete similar courses. This determination led the staff to invalidate a portion of Mr. Powe's academic high school records provided to the NCAA.