4-star DE Rawlins-Kibonge sees marketing potential at UM after new NCAA ruling

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A Stanford “offer” does not mean that he is a lock to be admitted to Stanford if he tries to commit. The coaches do pre-screen a recruit’s academic standing before they offer. But, the Stanford Admissions Dept. has to later ratify and confirm that the recruit is academically qualified when he tries to commit. That department wants to see his test scores and final grades before signing off on admission. It’s not automatic.

While I'm not refuting that one bit, getting into Stanford for an athletic scholarship is not that hard (for most), depending on the sport. The higher profile the team, the easier it is. I had multiple friends play sports at Harvard and they never did anything special academically in high school.

At the elite academic schools there's usually a band system (kids are classified A - D based on academic profile, A being excellent, D being poor) coaches have to abide by to keep an average GPA for the team, meaning they can take 4-5 kids (D-bands) who have poor academic records by balancing them out with preferred walk-ons and such (A-bands) who have incredible academics. I have friends who were on both ends of that spectrum. The first guy, who's had a 8+ year NHL career took the SATs something like 7 times to get a minimum qualifying score for Harvard's admissions dept which was 1000 (old SAT). And I also have a friend who went to Harvard knowing full well he'd never play in a game, but was there simply to boost the hockey team's GPA (he had a 1590 SAT).

And this is for HOCKEY, not a money maker for most athletic departments.. Stanford football gets plenty of kids with C+ averages and decent scores and likely a few who are below that.
 
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