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Two still waiting on Clearinghouse

Posted August 16, 2007

True freshmen defensive backs Lamont Smith and Anthony Wright still hadn't been approved by the NCAA academic clearinghouse as of first thing this morning, but CU officials are expecting word any day.

The good news for Buffs fans is that every player on the team right now, including Wright and Smith, has made it through the school's admissions process. So there won't be any of those bizarre cases from the past where the NCAA says a player is cleared academically, but CU refuses to admit him because of its standards.

CU officials said paperwork for every member of the 2007 recruiting class was submitted to the NCAA Clearinghouse for approval back in April and it is unclear what the hold up is with Smith and Wright. Obviously this is a busy time of year for the folks at the clearinghouse.

Coach Dan Hawkins has been reluctant to talk about the issue because his preference is to wait until the entire process is completed for everyone on the team and then he addresses everything at once. Obviously, we prefer to update the situation a little more regularly than that.

Hawkins has said, however, that his staff has done its homework in recruiting and he doesn't believe any of his guys will fail to get through either the clearinghouse or CU admissions.

Junior college running back P.T. Gates is the only member of the class who has not made it to CU yet, but that's because he still has some courses to finish this fall at Saddleback College in California. If Hawkins is correct, Gates should be the only guy from the 2007 class who doesn't begin the season with the team.

Gates has said he remains committed to CU and plans to be here in January.

...We could begin to find out as early as today if any veteran players are academically ineligible. There are a few players who have acknowledged they will be nervously awaiting their final summer grades. Linebacker Marcus Burton is and offensive lineman Erick Faatagi are in this boat, though Faatagi seemed pretty confident about his situation when I spoke to him.

...And unless you have been in a coma for the past 24 hours, you probably already know that Columbine High School's Curtis Cunningham has committed to play for CU. I just wanted to make sure and let those comatose folks know.

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