Patrick Johnson is the best high school corner available this year, depending on who you listen to. Earlier in the year he committed to Miami, but he re-opened his recruiting, focusing on Florida, Florida State and LSU. He picked LSU and planned to enroll early, but those plans were
recently kiboshed:
LSU's top-rated football recruit, cornerback Patrick Johnson of Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Fla., said he still plans to join the Tigers even though he was unable to begin school this week as expected after his ACT score was questioned by the NCAA.
Johnson is qualified because his ACT score, previously stuck on 16 after multiple attempts, suddenly jumped to 22. The NCAA is supposed to review all such unexplained jumps, as they're statistically improbable. All well and good. Care to wonder why the NCAA is looking into this?
"I'm not upset," Johnson said. "Florida made an issue about the ACT score. They're cowards. They had to go behind my back. But that's OK. We play them this year (on Oct. 11 at Florida)."
Urban Meyer, or someone on his staff suddenly got real suspicious about that test score when Johnson committed to Not Florida. Anyone care to guess who Les Miles will declare LSU's newest
f*#$ing rival?
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Yeah... This is a big deal... Johnson is about as intelligent as dust... He couldn't pass the test, so Florida stopped "loving" him... Johnson (all of a sudden) scores from 16 to 22 and wants to be an LSU Tiger...? This idiot doesn't know what he wants... Last year, he had wanted to play for Miami, since he was 7 years old... A kid, this dumb, doesn't deserve to play in the NCAA... If it were not for sports, this clown, would NEVER go to college...
Posted at 5:32PM on Jan 19th 2008 by Jeff
2. He couldn't pass the test, so Florida stopped "loving" him... Johnson (all of a sudden) scores from 16 to 22 and wants to be an LSU Tiger
Florida stopped "loving" him cause LSU helped him cheat and not them..You don't think he would pull out a 22 if he signed with the Gators? LOL
Posted at 6:04PM on Jan 19th 2008 by jon
3. Man I hate the SEC. Meyer is a complete snake. Are you telling me that UF turned him down due to his test scores? He chose LSU so they are trying to Rat F... him.
Posted at 6:26PM on Jan 19th 2008 by 1000 Steps
4. Coaches do not...and cannot flag tests. The Clearing House flags tests. Get your facts straight.
If there has been a consistency to this Patrick Johnson's recruitment is thta Johnson has lied to many people very publicly over a 3 or 4 month period. And it has been fairly common knowledge that there were major irregularities with his test.
Anyway, there is a huge sigh of relief in Miami, Tallahassee, Los Angeles and Gainesville. Hopefully this recruiting saga will end soon...
Posted at 6:37PM on Jan 19th 2008 by George
5. No one said the coaches called for it. Just saying.
Posted at 8:18PM on Jan 19th 2008 by formerlyanonymous
6. Until someone provides evidence that places Meyer or Florida to this topic, it shall be considered complete GARBAGE. You Gator-Haters are sickening.
Posted at 8:23PM on Jan 19th 2008 by Jeff
7. Some of you better check out the graduation rate of LSU players before you continue to make ignorant comments about the academic integrity of the LSU program.
Posted at 11:33PM on Jan 19th 2008 by Jason Robertson
8. @jeff,
there is nothing in the article that says florida did anything.
@Jason Robertson
fine, 2 of the most recent years lsu you has passed APR requirements for football.
Neither of these is the point. The point is how did this kid just jump 6 points on the SAT after SEVERAL attempts not cracking 16. No one is blaming LSU. No one is saying UF wanted the investigation. What they are saying is 6 points is a huge jump and the NCAA, I'll repeat that again for you, the NCAA is researching this because that is a big jump.
Posted at 1:30AM on Jan 20th 2008 by formerlyanonymous
9. Let that hood go play with LSU it is a matter of time before he holds up a liquor store or something worse?
Posted at 8:30AM on Jan 20th 2008 by gatorsrulz
10. By the by, I'd like to retract the SEVERAL comment. It was twice. Still, the ACT test do not vary that greatly normally. I hope for the kid that it was legit.
Posted at 5:59PM on Jan 20th 2008 by formerlyanonymous
11. What a buch of cry babies, Urban Meyer is the worst coach in the SEC!!! What a LOSER. LSU fan
Posted at 9:55AM on Jan 21st 2008 by Buddy
12. When did Brian Cook become a SEC blogger? Is he still a little bitter about the beat down last year and this year?? First prints garbage about a few LSU fans being ignorant (which is non-existent in the Big Ten) and now he prints garbage about some nearly brain dead kid who thinks Urban Meyer ratted him out as a legit story?!?! To top it off, he then says that tests are automatically flagged, which proves that UF did not turn him in, only did not want to heavily recruit someone until they were cleared by the NCAA. Shame on UF for that! Mr. Cook please try to stick to the Big Ten unless you can get a legit story.
Posted at 1:03AM on Jan 22nd 2008 by wblue1679
13. He wasn't home schooled was he? That's why I hate Florida now. I use to be a fan now all they care about is their two idol coaches.
Posted at 6:43AM on Jan 22nd 2008 by Jack
14. jeff are you serious? are you telling me Florida got all the smart players? The whole state is a joke or did it happen in Florida?
Posted at 6:43AM on Jan 22nd 2008 by Jack
15. just curious... do you know the reason he gave for committing to LSU? it was because he couldn't gain admission to his first 3 choices. Miami, UF, and FSU. if you followed recruiting at all you would know that he silently committed to different schools before LSU thus ruining any credibility he may have previously had. so, given his credibility issues how beleivable is it that he somehow has inside information about someone i.e. Urban Meyer tipping off the NCAA Clearinghouse rather than them actually doing their job? there are prep schools and junior colleges full of kids every year because they could not get into the college of their choice. why in this case does Patrick Johnson say it's someone else's fault? and you believe him?
Posted at 5:15PM on Jan 22nd 2008 by robert
16. Urban Meyer or someone from Florida telling on poor old Patrick Johnson, is about as phony as Ryan Perrilloux's money. This story has no teeth. Patrick Johnson is a liar and obviously a cheater too. Patrick Johnson will be a great fit at LSU with the rest of the cheats and sorry coaching staff.
Posted at 10:03PM on Jan 22nd 2008 by Jeff
17. From the Gainesville Sun....
Don't be a punk
To borrow an expression from the former head ball coach, Patrick Johnson needs to check his facts before he starts accusing somebody of something.
The Pompano Beach All-America cornerback has been spewing stuff to the recruiting services the past week about his red-flagged test score and the role UF played in it. He called Florida officials "cowards" for tipping off the Clearing House about his recent dramatic increase on his ACT exam (reportedly from 16 to 24.) after Johnson spurned Florida for LSU.
An early enrollee, Johnson is no longer in class (at LSU) and is in limbo while the Clearing House does its thing. (Most likely, Johnson will have to re-take the ACT, which he claims he's fine with.)
Here's the fact: UF had nothing to do with the Clearing House firing up the red flag on Johnson's questionable test score. This is something the Clearing House did (and always does) on its own. When an athlete's score suddenly increases by several points, the red flag goes up. The Clearing House doesn't need to be "tipped off" about someone's test score. And trust me, UF had nothing to do with the process Johnson is going through right now.
To listen to Johnson tell it, though, the only reason the Clearing House even looked into his score is because Florida told it to. That's absolutely absurd. Does he think the Clearing House would not have noticed his score unless someone had pointed it out?
Here's how the process works: the testing agency sends the results of tests directly to the Clearing House. Sometimes it is the testing agency that raises the red flag. Sometimes, it's the Clearing House. This is where the red flag is coming from on Johnson's score. Even if UF officials knew about Johnson's score, they wouldn't have to say anything to the Clearing House because the Clearing House would have automatically been doing its thing.
Posted at 11:36AM on Jan 23rd 2008 by Sherry
18. its amazing listening to gator fans speak of integrity what a joke. i seem to remmember urban suspending key players their championship yr and then reinstating them for the big games then afterwards re suspending them. meyer has as much integrity as bill clinton.
Posted at 12:19PM on Feb 3rd 2008 by tigergoud
19. what is amazing is when Tiger, or any fans trash Urban Meyer for a lack of integrity and site circumstances which they have obviously not researched. If you look back to the issues you are talking about, you would find that Meyer did everything right and when he had to suspend people for big games, including the SEC and National Championship, he did just that. Maybe you should have some idea of the facts before you type up a bunch of unsubstanciated garbage. Go Gators and I can't wait until the kittys get drowned in the swamp this year.
Posted at 9:14PM on Feb 22nd 2008 by Mike