Rich Rodriguez made headlines yet again back in February when it came out that prized signing day commit Demar Dorsey had a pretty checkered past, to say the least. Rodriguez defended Dorsey and really stuck his neck out there for him, which any head coach would do. Dorsey, though he did make mistakes a few years ago, was unfairly attacked by some (namely Drew Sharp, not that that is surprising), but Rodriguez standing up for him helped cool the story off.
The issue for Rodriguez now is that he may have stood up for a player that won't even make it to Michigan. Sam Webb has said a couple times on WTKA 1050 that he doesn't expect Dorsey to make it to Ann Arbor. He hasn't said a whole lot beyond that, but he hinted that it may be the University of Michigan that keeps Dorsey from playing for the Wolverines.
Seemingly confirming that notion is Mark James, who coached Demar Dorsey in high school.
Dorsey is fully qualified by NCAA standards, but the University of Michigan has yet to allow him to enroll.
"Demar is an NCAA qualifier with a 2.5 or 2.6 GPA and an 18 score on the ACT," said James. "But he hasn't yet been granted at Michigan."
There was a similar situation like this a year ago with recruit Adrian Witty. Witty decided to sign a LOI to Michigan, but he did not make it to Ann Arbor. The difference compared to Dorsey is that Witty was not qualified right out of high school. He had to continue to work to get qualified in the fall and made the grade in November. It looked like Witty would enroll at Michigan for the winter semester and essentially join the football program immediately. Instead, however, Witty ended up going to Cincinnati after more complications arose with his situation. He was qualified, but he apparently did not get admitted to U-M.
Dorsey's situation is slightly different because his past issues with the law are well known. His grades and test scores aren't out of this world or anything, but he is qualified based on the NCAA's standards. In that regard he is good to go anywhere to play football pending the school's approval. With Michigan, that is the issue Dorsey is currently dealing with -- he is waiting for their approval. I don't know if the admissions people are debating over his character or his academic record, but something is keeping him from being admitted to Michigan, which could lead to him going to a junior college this fall or simply opting for another FBS school instead (perhaps Florida State, as Dave Birkett suggested).
The thing I'm struggling with here is why a final decision still hasn't been made by U-M about Dorsey. Based on everything that came out after he signed with Michigan, it sounded like Rich Rodriguez had to fight pretty hard just to recruit Dorsey and offer him a scholarship. Eventually the green light was obviously given, but now there is a stop sign keeping Dorsey out of U-M. I suppose an internal debate could still be going on about whether or not Dorsey should be admitted to Michigan, but all signs point to him not ending up in Ann Arbor because of the University.
Aside from the fact that losing Dorsey would be tough to swallow for the football team considering how much talent is needed in the secondary, Dorsey not being admitted to Michigan would be a big slap in the face to Rich Rodriguez. As I mentioned earlier, Rodriguez really stuck his neck out for Dorsey, and Dorsey has done his part by qualifying and staying out of trouble (as far as we know). In the end, though, it looks like it could be U-M that gives Rodriguez more bad PR by not allowing Dorsey to enroll. Nothing appears to be final just yet, but all signs point to Dorsey having to attend a JUCO or another Division I-A school entirely.
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