QB Hill off team, could return in '08

Academic problems will keep junior quarterback Carlton Hill from being part of USF's football team this fall, but coach Jim Leavitt still hopes he can return to the Bulls in 2008.

"We hope he could get here in January or by next summer," Leavitt said. "He still has a scholarship at South Florida. That is always going to be there for him."

Hill, who had worked at three positions in three weeks of preseason drills, had not practiced with the team since the fall semester started Monday. Leavitt had said he would have redshirted this fall, and the plan now is for him to attend classes this fall at a junior college, likely Hillsborough Community College, so he can earn his associate of arts degree. Once he's done that, he should be able to return to USF and would still have the same two years of eligibility remaining.

Hill had rejoined the Bulls last month after attending Pearl River Community College last fall, helping his team to the junior college national championship game. He played sparingly as a true freshman in 2005 after coming to USF as one of the program's most highly touted recruits.

Leavitt also said outside linebacker Chris Robinson, who has missed three weeks of practice with an ankle injury, will not play in Saturday's opener against I-AA Elon.

"I don't think we'll play Chris right now," Leavitt said. "It wouldn't matter who you play, whether we were playing the New York Giants. If the guy's ready, you play him. If he's not, you don't. He didn't look ready to me today, and he hasn't been getting any of the practice reps."

Junior Tyrone McKenzie will start at strongside linebacker, with redshirt freshman Sabbath Joseph as the top backup.

Comments

[Kyle]

From QB to WR to Safety and then in reverse and now off the team?
Who has the Carlton Hill ADD here?

[Steve]

I don't understand after all of this why they are so high on him! He has done nothing at USF, yet they seem to think he is something special.

[Clay]

This a surprise???? He'll probably get a hardship waiver from the NCAA, because someone in that department knows how to work the system.

You know......this along with the other "thinning of the heard" scenarios just doesn't "smell" right.

[Terry Lucas]

Way to stick by your players Leavitt... If he makes it back, he will forever be indebited.

[Dave]

This situation just gets uglier and uglier. I'm sick of it- we shouldn't even bother with this until he gets his act together.

[Provost]

You have to love the ability to edit quickly online. When I first read this blogpost, there was a line:

"Hill was not registered for fall classes, according to the university registrar's office, suggesting the problem could be academic in nature"

Now, that line is gone. Could that be because practicing with the football team while not being registered in classes is a violation of NCAA rules?

[G.A.]

I rewrote the entire post, so there's lots of lines missing from the initial post. Hill is not registered for fall classes. He was eligible to practice until fall classes started on Monday. If we have Leavitt explaining things, I don't need to be citing registrars -- that's the only reason the lines you quoted aren't in the current version.

[Alex]

My gosh...when will it end!?

How many casualties does this make it just in this year!?

Is there even a possibility of a 2-deep? Haha.

[Al]

Time to cut bait and give his scholarship to a deserving individual. Maybe Leavitt can adopt him and pay for his education.

[Mark S]

There has to be more to this story. Something just sounds very strange here. First of all, he went to Pearl River. If he wasn't academically qualified after JC, how does he get accepted back on the team? Also, I recall that he was hanging around campus in the spring semester, but chose not to take classes.

I'm the first to defend the program in many cases, but this one is bizarre. I don't understandhehe can make it back to USF withou being academically eligible. If it wasn't grades and he just didn't register, who dropped the ball?

Losing Hill probably doesn't hurt team on the field, but this one is very strange.

[Ari]

IN order for you to transfer and have all your credits line up, you must obtain the A.A.

You can't be short classes, you can't have 60 credits but no A.A.

You must actually obtain the A.A.

I bet a million bucks that is the problem.

He got the grades at Pearl River, but never obtained the full degree.

Why is CJL sticking with him? Because he was a huge recruit, he went to Pearl River and got decent grades, played pretty well on the field and stayed loyal to USF. You have to remember that this kid was recruited by a lot of top schools at of high school and he choose USF and CJL over a lot of top guys. I think CJL feels like he owes the kid for taking a chance on USF, when he had a ton of options coming out of high school. CJL seems to think that he has made an effort to stay clean after his early mess ups, so he is going to be committed to him.

my 2 cents

[jdh]

If Leavitt isn't careful, isn't his program going to lose scholarships now that the NCAA is enforcing penalties for low academic performance? And, from all the late qualifiers this year, it doesn't look like it's getting any better.

[cee]

WELL WELL WELL.. another one bites the dust. another example of Jimbo's pathetic recruiting strategy.. bring in players with questionable character and/or academics. Carlton Hill was both.. he was busted for having sexual relations at his high school before he came to campus and he is obviously struggling academically.

Why does Leavitt pull in these question marks when we are located in Florida (the goldmine of high school football talent in America)? NO ONE KNOWS. let this be a lesson to all you casual USF fans: the passionate fans of USF are growing concerned with this poor way of developing a program.

[G.A.]

Nonqualifiers don't hurt APR scores, just athletes leaving before they graduate. Hill hurt USF when he left last year, but he never came back, so it doesn't hurt that way this time.

Hill is eligible right now, according to Leavitt. Typically, if you leave a four-year school to attend junior college, all you have to do is show "academic progress" if you want to return to your original school. USF is not accepting him back because of academics, but he's eligible to play.

[gdp]

cee - you've got it all wrong. It is not the "passionate" fans that are growing concerned about the status of this program, it is you!

Unlike you however, the rest of us are willing to try to get the FACTS about something before spouting an opinion that trashes the program without restraint. I have yet to see you say ONE SINGLE POSITIVE thing about USF in an regard.

Why Greg continues to allow you to post your venomous and ignorant comments is beyond me.

So, how are your boys in Orlando looking this year?????

[cee]

gdp- i live in tampa and i went to USF, so i don't understand that last comment.

and you want to talk about FACTS? FACT 1: CARLTON HILL WILL NOT PLAY DUE TO ACADEMIC REASONS. that is a fact. FACT 2: JIM LEAVITT RECRUITED CARLTON HILL. the same carlton hill that was caught messin' around with a girl in his freakin' high school. the same hill that was shipped off to a junior college (because of academics), only to come back and not qualify due to academics. what a waste of our time. in this time, we could have had a player that has been with the team since carlton hill's day 1-- practicing with the team, learning the system, contributing on special teams, training to be a starter, and getting a USF education. BUT NO. we get this guy-- the protege of a jim leavitt recruit. Jim should have done his homework (which isn't hard: if you've got academic/legal issues, you've got issues), and that is that.

[Ari]

Greg..

Doesn't the AA have anything to do with it?

There has to be a reason other then grades on why he isn't playing.

THe football team knew his grades before he showed back up..

I think it has to do with credits transfering and such.

I could be wrong.

[Steve]

When do the lots to the South of Ray Jay open for tailgating? I have a parking pass for lot 7.

[Windbane]

Oh my gosh, cee, he messed around with a girl in high school?! No way!

[The TRUTH]

Cee always likes to bash Coach leavitt for offering schollies to players with less stars in the recruiting system. However, here's a situation where the recruit had decent stars, and still Cee bashes him for it.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and Cee has been proven wrong in his useless star determinations with this player alone. A hypocrit is a hypocrit, and that's what Cee is.

Here's the TRUTH for all you bloggers out there - it doesn't matter what happens to USF's football program, Cee is still going to be on here crying like a baby on every single topic. REALITY.

[jdh]

If Hill did come back to USF for summer term, G.A., his departure does hurt again. Leavitt's program had an APR of 910 last year, which puts it in the bottom 25% in the country academically (http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2006/651_2006_apr.pdf). If it stays below 925, won't USF lose scholarships this year and be banned from bowl games after that?

[gdp]

cee - my explanation is as follows . . . YOU ARE A UCF FAN!!! You know, I know it, just about everyone here knows it. So your "outrage" and "disgust" at how CJL runs this program is no surprise.

You are not clever cee, you are not duping or fooling anyone here. Your tirades are pretty much identical to what UCF fans have been saying for years about USF, you are just trying to couch them differently.

As has been pointed out elsewhere - you are nothing more than a hypocrit. First you rail about the "quality" or "star rating" of our players (like UCF fans bragging about how their players have more stars etc) and then you rail about the quality or character of a kid that we do get that has the stars you were whining about (again, similar to what UCF fans have been spewing for years).

It is obvious that you are NEVER satisfied with what USF does so my suggestion is that you simply quit rooting for USF (as you claim you do) and take up another hobby . . . I don't know, like kicking puppies or something like that!

Or is that you just don't believe that "some" kids deserve an opportunity for a higher education because they have more melanin than you.

[jdh]

2005-06 Academic Progress Rate for Division I Football Programs in Florida

Miami (966)
Florida (961)
Florida State (952)
UCF (928)
-------------------
FAU (914)
USF (910)
FIU (889)
FAMU (862)

Half, including USF, are below 925, which could subject them to NCAA penalties if they don't improve in 2006-07.

[Bob Schaller]

Can somebody tell me how Grant Gregory goes from looking for a position somewhere on the team last year because he couldn't play quarterback to becoing the backup to Grothe this year? Maybe his dad became his position coach?

[G.A.]

JDH, Hill didn't return for a summer term at USF. That's the reason he doesn't hurt USF on the APR this time around. He was here as an athlete, practicing between semesters, but has not taken a class at USF since 2006.

[Al]

Greg, How was C Hill allowed to practice with the Bulls when he wasn't a student of the University of South Florida? Are non-students normally allowed to practice with the team? What about liability in case of injury?

CJL said Hill's scholarship would always be there for him, so someday we may get to see a gray haired old man playing QB, WR, or DB for the Bulls at the new OCS.

[G.A.]

Hill was eligible to practice and play, and awaiting a decision on whether he'd be re-admitted to USF for fall classes. There were other football players who practiced when they hadn't even been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. USF's compliance folks are thorough people who are on top of these things.

Al, once you start taking full-time classes at a four-year school, you have a window of five years in which you're generally eligible as an athlete. Hill's only in his third year, so when Leavitt says there will always be a scholarship for him, he's speaking within the limitations of when Hill is eligible for a football scholarship. That's not to say Hill couldn't have gray hair by then -- you guys see what I look like, so I'm not going to criticize anybody's hair.

[Steve Stacy]

Yes! Ari owes us all a million bucks.

[Dave]

Bob, Grant is a heck of a QB- he's big and stronger armed than Grothe. He is a transfer from Indiana, which was one of a number of scholarship opportunities he had. He transferred when his father got a job here, as TE coach. Both promotions for the Gregory's are unrelated to one another. Since Greg Gregory has been an OC before, he was the logical choice, and since Grant is the best QB after Grothe, he is the logical choice. I don't think any one else has raised an issue of nepotism here.

[Al]

How long (semesters) was C. Hill enrolled as a full time student at PRCC?

P.S. There's always Hair Club!...LOL

[G.A.]

I believe Hill was only at Pearl River one semester, in fall 2006. He might have taken classes in summer 2006, but wasn't anywhere this spring.

I have every reason to believe Grant Gregory would be the top backup to Grothe if his father was still tight ends coach, or if his father was coaching elsewhere. When he got a look at safety, it was a case of wanting to get his athleticism on the field. Fans should be able to get a sense of what he can do in the second half of the Elon game, assuming things go as expected for the Bulls.

"I believe Hill was only at Pearl River one semester, in fall 2006. He might have taken classes in summer 2006, but wasn't anywhere this spring." G.A.

IMO, He doesn't sound like a guy who is very serious about getting a college education. Time to cut bait.

[Ari]

I stand by my comment that it has to do with his A.A....

I know it.

I just know it.

[G.A.]

Ari, look it up. If he wanted to go elsewhere, he'd need an AA. If he's returning to the school he was at, he needs to show academic progress. It's not an AA issue.

[Ted]

What's all this commotion on CHill? One player does not make the team. All the best to him.

[Reality]

well, once again, I have to agree with the hated Cee. Carlton Hill was a troublemaker coming to the program. While not taking these kids is a good policy, if you have to take them, then you need a short leash. One screwup and you are gone. He has talent, but not worth the liability.....

And yes screwing around with a girl in high school is normal these days, but he did quite a bit more than that.....do some research.....

Harddick will end up just like Carlton Hill......mark it down....

and yes....THIS IS REALITY!

[Al]

http://media.www.usforacle.com/media/storage/paper880/news/2006/07/06/LastEdition/Qb.Hill.In.Trouble.And.Out.As.Starter-2120126.shtml