ATHENS — The academic eligibility of two Georgia football signees remains uncertain as players prepare to report to campus Tuesday for preseason practices.
Linebacker Kent Turene of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., is awaiting clearance of his transcript by the NCAA Eligibility Center. Defensive back Devin Bowman of Rossville is waiting to find out whether he passed the English portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
Both players hope to have their matters resolved in time to report with the rest of their teammates. However, there is a chance it could take longer.
“I haven’t heard anything yet. I’m still waiting,” said Turene, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker out of Boyd Anderson High School outside Fort Lauderdale. “It’s just a matter of time. I’ve got everything in. With the NCAA, there’s no timeline.”
Bowman, a 6-foot, 175-pound athlete out of Ridgeland High, is supposed to receive the results of his final attempt at the graduation test “any time now,” according to his high school coach.
“They said we’d find out the week before or the week after Aug. 1, sometime during that two-week window,” Ridgeland coach Mark Mariakis said. “Devin said he thought he did real well and felt comfortable this time. We should know something soon.”
If Bowman comes up short, Mariakis said his star player would attend Georgia Military College for a year.
Turene, who said the NCAA is reviewing courses he took in high school, refuses to make any backup plans.
“I’ve got everything. I did everything right,” he said. “It’s just taking a while to clear. We’re not talking about anything else like junior college or anything like that. I’m expecting everything to go the right way.”
Georgia signed 26 players in February. To date, only one has been denied admission. Defensive tackle Chris Mayes of Spalding High is enrolling at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College this fall. The other 23 signees enrolled at UGA for summer semester.
Columbus investigation
Athletic director Greg McGarity said Tuesday that UGA hopes to wrap up by the end of this week its internal investigation of eligibility issues facing football player Jarvis Jones and basketball player Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Each is accused of receiving impermissible benefits from an AAU coach in Columbus in the summer of 2009.
“That’s where things stand now,” McGarity said of the timeline. “Then we have to go through the [NCAA] process after we do our due diligence.”
Georgia will forward its report to the SEC, which will review the findings before forwarding them to the NCAA.
Jones, a sophomore, is scheduled to start at strongside linebacker for the Bulldogs. Georgia hopes his status will be determined before the Sept. 3 season opener against Boise State. An eligibility issue involving wide receiver A.J. Green last year was not resolved until the second week of the regular season.
“Our goal is that we will have an answer early enough to be able to prepare properly,” Georgia coach Mark Richt told reporters at a Bulldog Club gathering in Cobb County on Monday. “I think we’re on track to do that.”
Caldwell-Pope is a freshman signee from Greenville, Ga., and a five-star-rated shooting guard. A similar case involving a basketball player at Baylor last year resulted in a six-game suspension. Basketball season does not begin until November.
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