Funny how things work.
First, a little history...
When Pete Carroll was the coach he did not offer Marquis Jackson a scholarship to play at USC. Marquis is the brother of USC LB Malik Jackson. Malik wasn't highly rated as some of the guys at USC, but he has been given ton of opportunities to play and prove himself on the field while being at USC. That says a lot. Guys who want it bad enough find a way.
One of the stories out there was that Marquis' grades were an issue...I do know that Marquis did have to go the JC route so it certainly lines up that he did have some academic issues. That is fine, it looks like he repaired his academic issues. Jackson, when no offer was coming from SC, committed to ucla for the class of 2010. Whatever Pete Carroll's reasons for not offering Marquis were, they left when PC went to Seattle.
So, this past weekend Marquis decided to take a last second look and came to USC for an official visit. Of course the bruin boards lit up that Marquis didn't get the grades for ucla...
Now that is interesting.
Really? He didn't have the grades? As of when?
This didn't seem to be an issue before he took his official visit to USC, so why is it an issue now. Surely the ucla admissions office did their due diligence before offering him right?
What a bunch of babies...
I love how most of the ucla faithful want to ignore the fact that 70% of of their players are special admits. Most top programs have to get these players to be viable on the field, ucla is no different. So Marquis takes his visit. It is not hard to see that the new coaching staff may have a different take on Marquis' ability to get into USC and it should not surprise anyone if the brothers wanted to play together...blood is thicker than anything else.
So should we be surprised when that wimp Tracy Pierson of BRO starts throwing the grades card out there?
Not really.
I find it amusing that Pierson was so quick to throw Marquis under the bus because he was certain that Marquis was going to flip to USC... I find it appalling that he made that crap up just to try and save face for UCLA. This clown has no shame.
This is the same clown who chastised his own readers when they complained about Pierson and the BRO staff. Pierson even threatened to ban anyone who badmouthed the BRO staff when the masses didn't agree with the party line being thrown out.
Now, here is the kicker...
It would appear that Marquis will stick with ucla, honoring his commitment. It would appear that SC simply came too late to the table...that is fine, I completely understand Marquis' line of thinking.
But what about Marquis' grades? WIll he be cleared acdemically?
Well....
You guessed it!
All of a sudden he has the grades to get into ucla.
How is it that in just three days Jackson goes from being qualified, to not being qualified, back to being qualified just because he chose to visit the cross town rival and then decided to stay with his original commitment?
Pierson is a first rate clown. To use the grade card because the kid might want to consider playing along with his brother at the crosstown rival smacks of being a whiny spoiled brat. What an embarrassment. These guys have just exposed themselves big time. They don't have the stones own up to it.
UCLA fans are going to have to get used to two things...
1) Outside of athletics USC is neck and neck academically with UCLA. There may have been a disparity in the past but those days are long gone.
2) UCLA can no longer claim the moral high ground when it comes to academics with their athletes. They take a lot of special admits just to field a team. It has been that way for a long a time....its just that many of us now know the truth.
Anyone want to lay odds that that Pierson won't retract what he wrote?
Fat chance...