Two of three Marietta High School players lost appeals Friday to have their 2018 eligibility restored by the Georgia High School Association.
Junior defensive backs Rashad Torrence and Dawson Ellington were denied reinstatement, by a unanimous 4-0 Appeal Committee vote, to participate in sports at any GHSA member this year, according to a GHSA spokesperson.
The appeal of Jalen Hardy was approved by a 4-0 vote. Hardy, who is a senior, is eligible to play tonight against Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md).
The three players had been ruled ineligible because they did not make the required bona-fide moves in residency required by GHSA rules.
Hardy’s situation was different than those of the other two. Hardy played at Whitewater last season and transferred in the winter and played a spring sport at Marietta. Hardy and his representatives were able to show that he did make a legitimate move in residence prior to enrolling.
Torrence and Ellington did not. They argued that they played last season in good faith and that Marietta led them to believe they were eligible because they had parents employed in the Marietta school system.
Torrence and Ellington, who have multiple offers from SEC and ACC schools, played last season “under false pretenses,” according to the GHSA, because of what the GHSA found were false transfer documents filed by Marietta High School to the GHSA last year. Marietta has not disputed that the documents were inaccurate. The GHSA forced Marietta to forfeit its eight 2017 football victories and fined the school $1,500.
Shortly after the July ruling, Marietta reassigned athletics director Paul Hall and later hired Andy Dorsey to take his place.
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