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Alabama freshman guard not cleared academically by NCAA

The Spaulding Hoop Hall Classic

Kelly Kline/Getty Images

Getty Images

Just two days after receiving good news in the form of 2016 five-star shooting guard Terrence Ferguson’s commitment, Alabama announced that it will be without one of its commitments in the Class of 2015.

Four-star guard Kobie Eubanks has not been cleared academically by the NCAA, and as a result he will not be joining the Alabama program for the 2015-16 season. The school announced the news via press release Wednesday evening.

“We are disappointed for Kobie and his family,” Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said in the release. Unfortunately, Kobie wasn’t cleared by the NCAA and we couldn’t get him admitted to the University of Alabama. He has a bright future and we wish him well.”

It should be noted that Elev8 Sports Institute, where Eubanks attended last year, stated Thursday that he has not been declared academically ineligible by the NCAA.

Wednesday’s news is the latest twist in Eubanks’ story, which began nearly two years ago after he’d completed his senior year at Our Savior New American in Centereach, New York. Eubanks spent his sophomore and junior years at American Heritage HS in Florida, and transcripts from that school are where the original problems stemmed from.

In September 2014 Eubanks and his father
filed a lawsuit against American Heritage, alleging that the school had changed his transcripts which led to his not being accepted at Baylor.

The suit claims that American Heritage provided Our Savior with a transcript that stated Eubanks’ grade-point average upon leaving American Heritage was 2.5, then later another transcript that put his GPA at 2.37, but certified to Our Savior that the 2.5 transcript was correct. The different numbers, the suit alleges, came from Eubanks’ grades being altered.

According to the suit, Baylor requested all of Eubanks’ transcripts as part of its normal vetting, and the two transcripts from American Heritage drew an NCAA inquiry.

Eubanks spent last year at Elev8 Sports Institute with an eye towards qualifying academically in 2015, but that path did not work out as evidenced by Wednesday’s news. The loss of Eubanks leaves the Crimson Tide with three incoming freshmen: guard Dazon Ingram and forwards Brandon Austin and Donta Hall.