Baldwin Park’s Crutchfield, Jackson back on recruiting trail after UTEP changes course

With just over a week before high school football players can sign national letters of intent, Baldwin Park High School’s Wardell Crutchfield and Demetrius Jackson are in limbo after their scholarship offers from the University of Texas El Paso were pulled in hopes the two would accept grayshirt offers instead. UTEP did not have as many scholarships available in the fall as it anticipated, according to Baldwin Park coach James Heggins. (To continue, click thread)


A grayshirt means players are still given their scholarships and can sign sign letters of intent in February, but signees can’t report in the fall with the rest of the team.
Instead, recruits generally enroll at a community college and report to the university in January.
The NCAA five-year clock doesn’t begin until the player enrolls as a full time student, so gray-shirting is a delayed form of red-shirting.
Crutchfield, a 6-foot, 210-pound linebacker and Jackson, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound defensive back, gave verbal commitments to UTEP back in August, but now are reconsidering their options with the Feb. 2 signing day approaching.
Heggins believes Crutchfield and Jackson, both 4.0 students, will sign on signing day, he’s just not sure with who.
Crutchfield already has visited Georgetown University and has a recruiting trip scheduled for the University of San Diego this weekend.
Crutchfield’s father, Wardell Crutchfield Sr., says his son also was offered a greyshirt scholarship at Idaho, but wants to keep all his options open.
Heggins said Jackson already has visited Stony Brook University in New York, the University of San Diego and is visiting Portland State this weekend.
Wardell Crutchfield Sr., says Jackson and his son could still opt to take the greyshirt route and sign with UTEP next week.
But once UTEP changed its course, the Braves standouts wanted to look at all their options before signing.
“They hope to make their decisions this weekend,” Crutchfield Sr., said.
[SUB1]Coleman changes plans
[BODY]One of the area’s most sought after recruits, Walnut High’s 6-foot-5 receiver/tight end Aubrey Coleman, told a Washington-based website that he will not be attending the University of Washington on a full scholarship because of his grades.
Coleman, who verbally committed to Washington over the summer, told Scott Eklund, who writes for scout.com and Dawgman.com that he will attend Fort Scott Community College in Kansas in hopes of improving his grades.
Coleman still hopes to play at Washington in the future.
“I’m all set to head out to Kansas and play at Fort Scott for the next two years,” Coleman told Eklund. “I was getting good grades, but I didn’t have the right classes for my credits to count toward my core GPA.
“I talked with (Washington cornerbacks) coach (Demetrice Martin) and he gave me a number to call. I guess there is a former coach from Mount San Antonio, where coach Martin was, and he said I should call him, so I did and he’s out at Fort Scott now.
“I’m definitely planning on it (going to Washington), but it’s a ways away. I want to be a Husky and I like the staff and the direction of their program. We’ll see if they still want me. My plan is to go there when I’m done (at Fort Scott).”

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