College recruiting

By DD

December 30, 2008 7:48 AM | Link to this

SURPRISE!!!! NOT!

By Trojan Dude

December 30, 2008 8:01 AM | Link to this

I sure hope not much staff spent much time on this report. Come on. Pretty obvious stuff. FLASH… World found to be round!!!

By wvgatorgal

December 30, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

I cannot believe you would repeat the garbage dished out by Mike Knobler without questioning the obvious - “the minimum SAT for incoming students at the University of Florida is much higher than most schools so it’s obvious the gap between students and athletes is greater”! And I’m not even a rocket scientist!!!

By Joe

December 30, 2008 8:17 AM | Link to this

I am sure that the UF alums will be really upset about this when they win their 2nd national title in 3 years.

I guess this is supposed to be some reaction to Jan Kemp’s death last week, but seriously, you are only serving to illustrate why print journalism is now 2nd fiddle to blogs in the world of sports media.

By wvgatorgal

December 30, 2008 8:20 AM | Link to this

I cannot believe you would repeat the garbage dished out by Mike Knobler without questioning the obvious - “the minimum SAT for incoming students at the University of Florida is much higher than most schools so it’s obvious the gap between students and athletes is greater”! And I’m not even a rocket scientist!!!

By bank walker

December 30, 2008 9:18 AM | Link to this

bwwaaahhhhhaaaaa!!!!

By Vandybeta

December 30, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

Well this research is a little erroneous! If you look at the SAT test scores of incoming freshman at Georgia, it was a snapshot from 97-99. Florida from 2004-2007. Since 1999, UGA freshman have raised their avg test scores almost 150 pts! Currently, the avg freshman test score is 1310. At Florida, the avg test score is 1250. If current numbers were taken into consideration, UGA would have the largest gap due to the fact that Georgia has the highest admission standards in the SEC, save Vandy! This lazy research wouldn’t get a passing grade even at schools like Miss State or Auburn…. come on!

By CrocnationCrier

December 30, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this

Some good will come of this report, I promise you. Gak.

By Tebow the Great

December 30, 2008 12:29 PM | Link to this

Some good will come of this report, I promise you. Gak.

By Tebow the Great

December 30, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this

Some good will come of this report, I promise you. Gak.

By Urban Crier

December 30, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

I’ll write a book about it and call it: Urban’s Way-lay,

By Urban Crier

December 30, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this

I’ll write a book about it and call it: Urban’s Way-lay,

By RealityYech

December 30, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this

He should have gone to Yech. They accept dimwits that don’t even know the name of the school for cryiin’ out loud. “I be proud, to be playin’ for Georgia Tech University.” LOL!!! Classic!!!!

By Chase

December 30, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this

UF is one of the hardest schools to get into and requires such a high SAT score that it obviously has a big gap in between it’s normal students who must score very high to get in and the student athletes who are given scholarships to come to UF and aren’t required such high scores. In other words, the gap comes from UF’s high standards and not from underachieving student athletes.

By nwb

December 30, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

Who cares ? As Vince Dooley said— “We don’t care what classes they take…badminton, sewing, whatever. We care about winning SEC Championships.” Win at any cost. 49-10.

By uberDawg

December 30, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this

Chase, those are great claims. Can you show us the documentation you have to back it up? because w/o the docs it’s nothing but claims.

By uberDawg

December 30, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

Chase, those are great claims. Can you show us the documentation you have to back it up? because w/o the docs it’s nothing but claims.

By dan

December 30, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this

First off, the majors for some of these athletes are so bogus. ” University studies” ” Housing”? Give me a break! These guys come to play football. If a guy like Matt Stafford can go to the NFL and make 1-3 million a year, then why would he go back and get a college degree? Is it going to help him in his career? It’s unfortunate that it is this way, but it is. To have a successful program, coaches will bend the rules and colleges will lower their standards. Florida State in the 90’s was a phenomenal program, but that ” Christian values” image by Bobby Bowden was such a sham. Bowden ran a very dirty program, and I’ll promise you Bama and Florida are doing the same kind of things. They just haven’t been caught yet. These college programs might as well be professional franchises.

By leland

December 30, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this

Dear Mr. Staff Reports—the SAT and football record of the Gators show that ability to play football is inversely related to brains. Your pal, Leland.

By Gatorssecchamps

December 30, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

So if these players had decided to attend Georgia, which they were rcruiting and in the running to get before they decided to play for Florida, Mark Richt would have certainly said, “No Thanks”??? Is that what you are trying to sell with this drivel.

Boy it really stings to be the Gators whipping boys, huh? That is the best you muckracking schmucks could come up with? Wow!

It’s great to be a Florida Gator and it must suck to be you!

By Dawgtime

December 30, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this

Try this out for an article. Why should we play the national title game? Just annoint the SEC Champions. I mean the SEC dominates. Just ask Ohio State about the SEC champs. The ACC, oh I mean AJC can spew all the anti-SEC propaganda they want, but they are chasing a losing cause. Did the ACC have a member in the national title game in basketball? No. Baseball? No. Football? No. The SEC did in two of the three. Florida will destroy the Sooners for another title. LSU will whip GT. Enough said.

By Sick of you too

December 30, 2008 4:10 PM | Link to this

You would think the writer would base the data on the same time periods for each school if the writer was going to compare one school to another. Anyway, you can’t even compare this data for the obvious reason, but there are about a dozen other reasons for a lack a validity for comparison as well. What a waste of good ink (or internet space) this article was. It has no value at all. The important comparison would be graduation rates between schools for the current school year. Now, that comparison would have value for discussion.

By TampaGator

December 30, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this

Florida just announced that all Gator football players are eligible for the NC game and that the team GPA for the fall semester was 2.8. Sounds like to me the UF football players and coaches are holding up their end of the stick when it comes to players performing in the classroom. 2.8 is not great, but it’s not bad either.

By Darius

December 30, 2008 7:35 PM | Link to this

Vandybeta - You make a good point about the problem with comparing data from different periods. There are so many problems with the “data analysis” that was done by this reporter that it is a waste of time to even begin to list them out. However, I long ago realized that 10 out of 10 reporters are completely clueless when it comes to the math and sciences. Also, your SAT data is a bit off as the average freshman entering UF has had greater than a 4.0 GPA and greater than a 1300 on the SAT for years.

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that some schools have a large gap between the SAT scores of the football players and the regular students. The more important thing to consider is whether or not the schools actually graduate their athletes and apparently this reporter was not aware that the NCAA actually tracks this using a standardized method.

The NCAA reports the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) each year for each sport at each school. The reporter could have used this as an indicator; but, this would have meant pointing out that both Georgia and Georgia Tech do a very poor job of graduating their football players. Over the last 4 years, UGA’s GSR has been in the 41-48 range. Georgia Tech’s has been in the 48-55 range. Meanwhile, UF’s has been in the 68-80 range.

By RealityYech

December 30, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this

Wow, the AJC writing an article that props up Yech but slams UGA? Who da thunk?!?!? LOL, they don’t call it the “Atlanta Urinal and Constipation” or my personal favorite, “The Yech Buzz” for nothing!!!

By Missionairy Positions In Uzbekistan

December 31, 2008 12:03 AM | Link to this

When does Richt leave for Uzbekistan??

By Darken Dog

December 31, 2008 2:10 PM | Link to this

Duhroooo, I play me futbal, whin trofy!!

By Computers Run football

January 1, 2009 6:13 AM | Link to this

Who gives a a f*** about academics if you can run a 10sec,100 meter.Evil Kneivel could barely spell his own f*** name. Yet, people flocked to him like seagulls on an oyster. And basketball players who never even attended a day in college make 100+ million dollars for a few years of services (Lebron James). And baseball is no different. They even allowed people to get away with taking steroids for yrs. before bringing attention to it. Some of which r in the hall of fame. And those who are cheating have to go up against congress. WTF, is that b******? Was congress created to resolve “cheating” issues in sports? Not that I remember. But, hey what else do they have to do. Not, like anyone of them gives a f*** about the troops in Iraq. You could be working on getting them out of that s** hole. But, instead…you care about f*** baseball. A sport that couldn’t/wouldn’t be played if it weren’t you those people you pass off. Eat a dick s** heads. Much more going on in the world other than this b******. But, americans only care for themselves. Which is obvious by how many homeless vets we have. If not for vets., all of you f*** would be speakin german right now. But, homeless vets isn’t an issue when ur team is in the playoffs. A*****, get ur f*** priorites straight. Take care of those who madeu free. Can you name one war veteran(any war)? Or is it easier to name sports stars? Who’s really the a*****? Feel free to post against me. Those who disagree are the majority of the problem. I expect to get alot of high school asswipes, to be counter productive. So, I say in advance…..f*** you. Graduate, get job, pay taxes,then you can b*** like everyone else. Until then, stfu cause ur opinion doesn’t matter, cause u contribute nothing to everything, including the team, and the school.

By GO GATORS

January 1, 2009 2:37 PM | Link to this

UF’s graduation rate of athletes,is at 87 percent, which is behind only Vanderbilt University in the SEC.

SAT is overrated!

49-10 GATORS over DAWGS.

By Johnny DangerDawg

January 1, 2009 2:49 PM | Link to this

Tim Tebow scored 890 on the SAT, and he has a 3.71 GPA at Florida. What does that say?

By Dan

January 1, 2009 7:05 PM | Link to this

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA There are some salty Florida fans on this site trying to spin this.

By sean folley

January 1, 2009 7:28 PM | Link to this

The SEC schools have a lousy academic reputation. Even Vanderbilt is terribly overrated. Just because UF and UG (or should I say UGH!) have raised their SAT scores this only means that the states have huge populations to draw on. The fact is that the faculty at these schools is second rate compared to the PacTen and BigTen. Most professors I know would never teach at these schools or at the Big Twelve schools (Oklahoma is also a lousy university) because they are in the middle of nowhere and they still have a Southern influence. A degree from Florida or Georgia is not prestigious outside the South. You guys should stick to football unless you are willing to BUY a nobel prize winner as you have to BUY profs at Texas and Florida just to live in these horrible places.

By hairofthedawg

January 2, 2009 12:06 AM | Link to this

Sounds pretty easy to me…if you want to win a National Championship do like UF and recruit those with low iq’s

By Chaz S

January 2, 2009 12:28 AM | Link to this

So what? Top athletes possess physical skills far above other students and deserve some credit for that kind of superiority (skills that may lead to decent careers in coaching, etc.).

Just because a Tim Tebow doesn’t possess the sharpest intellect he, like other football players, often have greater discipline and may well graduate and have successful live after school. Football players represent such a tiny percentage of the population of a huge university, that their admission to the school really is inconsequential.

By Hunkerdown

January 2, 2009 1:43 AM | Link to this

Hey Go Gstors, You say SAT scores are not important and mention afterwards 49-10. Are these your tops recruits SAT scores you are referring to?

By Dave

January 3, 2009 1:44 PM | Link to this

I am a public school teacher in the state of Louisiana and I can tell you that it is a national scandal how high-school coaches cover-up the substandard performance of their players in the classroom. I would like to see the whole system changed. The required standard for eligibility at my school is at least one “D” in any class. The coach is the gym teacher and all his players get “A’s” for his class. Instand eligibility! But, it sounds like the kid can go and play for Florida for at least two years until he flunks out. What a sham.

By scott ziegler

January 3, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this

this story is retarded… UF is extremely hard to get into so of course there is going to be a large gap between players. I am a UF graduate and barely got in with my scores that were around 1300. My cousin is having trouble getting accepted now with over 1300.

By scott ziegler

January 3, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this

this story is retarded… UF is extremely hard to get into so of course there is going to be a large gap between players. I am a UF graduate and barely got in with my scores that were around 1300. My cousin is having trouble getting accepted now with over 1300. I’m pretty sure if you look at the amount of players that acutally graduate… UF ranks rather high

By greg kelleher

January 4, 2009 9:49 AM | Link to this

NCAA could fix this in a instant - require college teams to match average graduation rate and average SAT of the school to be bowl eligible.