Answer Monday! (Part 6)

Q: El Capitán said:
SW, do you know who is the QB's coach getting Mark Sánchez ready for the NFL combine?
Thanks

A: I know he remains close to Bob and Rob Johnson. But I have not heard of any other coaches working with him right now.

Q: kptrojan said:
With the injury to Trey Henderson which as you have reported, he is retiring from football. Will that open a up scholarship for the football team or does Trey retain that scholarship? Fight On!

A: Trey Henderson remains on a medical scholarship. That does not count against the 85-man limit for football.

Q: Harry Bawles said:
Scott, I read where you plan to take a vote on which live chat the readers prefer. Please remember that if the vote favors the new format for some reason, many readers, myself included, have mentioned that our computers can't handle the new format, and therefore will be shut out, and not only that, but it is impossible to go back and read the transcript as we could before, so we will really really be shut out altogether. I think that you should take this into account too, besides the vote.
Now for my question: I am really confused about how a marginal student- athlete gets admitted into SC. Metcalf cannot sign his LOI because he hasn't met the admission standards yet--but he eventually may. Vontaze may have been in the same situation. For an athlete to be a special admit to SC, do they have to have more than the minimum NCAA requirements? If yes, do you know what they are? If not, how would Vontaze be helped by going to Arizona St.? Furthermore, weren't Perry and McNeal allowed to sign their LOI'S last year, but didn't meet the minimum until after summer school? Also, in past years,say the past 10, weren't several kids allowed to sign their LOI'S, only to find out late August or so that they didn't qualify? It seems to me that a lot of student- athletes wouldn't meet the standards until their last semester of high school, or even the summer school sessions that follow, so how can the admissions dept. say[in early Feb.] that they can't sign their LOI'S because they don't meet the standards NOW? And, what is the admissions dept.,one person looking at each prospective student-athlete, or a committee looking and deciding?
I realize this is a lot more than one question, but everything is inter-related. I certainly don't expect you to answer everything, but I think you can understand why I am confused here, and perhaps you can just give one general answer that would help to clear up apparent contradictions, especially SC's minimum standards for special admits,i.e. are they greater than NCAA minimum, and, if not,how would a kid be helped by going to Arizona St., a kid like Vontaze I mean, who would certainly be one of the 5-7 special admits SC allows, and how the admissions dept. expects the kid to meet everything by early Feb. before he can sign his LOI--it just seems ridiculous, and doesn't appear to be applied uniformly.
I ask, of course, because I am upset about our losing Vontaze, and, I haven't checked, but I bet Ariz. St. allowed Vontaze to sign his LOI. Thanks for whatever light you can shed on this for me, and for a lot of us. It just doesn't seem fair,and, yes, I know life isn't always fair. Thanks again, Scott.

A: USC does have a special admissions program that allows athletes who would normally be considered at-risk to get into school. That said, there are times when even after getting into school as a special admit, you need to pass certain courses or take a summer class that you would not have to take at other schools. I'm not saying this was the case with Burfict, but I routinely remember cases like Maurice Morris, the former Oregon QB, saying he didn't consider USC because he needed extra classes. Shareece Wright told me he could have gone to UCLA but they wanted him to take a summer class. That was not the reason he did not go, but it didn't help their chances either. Hopefully, this clears it up some.