Blakeney peeved over ruling on freshman running back

The latest ruling by the NCAA of a Troy football player has head coach Larry Blakeney up in arms.

The NCAA ruled that freshman running back Chris Anderson was ineligible this season, but could attend school as a Proposition 42 student (partial qualifier). Anderson now has to pay his own way and pass 24 credit hours this fall and spring in order to regain his scholarship.

The NCAA had kept Troy on edge with Anderson’s status since Aug. 11, when he was held out of practice while the NCAA said they were reviewing Anderson’s high school transcripts.

“The NCAA is a B.S. organization when it comes to stuff like this,” Blakeney said. “There are 100 people who did the exact same things this kid did, but (Anderson) doesn’t qualify. Now this boy’s got to pay his own way, and he might not be able to afford to pay his own way.”

Anderson, a Fort Lauderdale native, won’t be able to suit up for the Trojans when they play in his home town Tuesday against Florida Atlantic on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.

Anderson’s transcript was in question because he transferred high schools. He graduated from Boyd Anderson High School after playing and rushing for more than 1,600 yards and 20 touchdowns his junior year at Hollywood Hills High School, also in south Florida.

The NCAA also questioned Anderson’s participation in a credit recovery program, which ultimately gave the organization its answer.

“They said the courses he took in night school were correspondence courses and they were not,” Blakeney said. “We’ve got no use for (the NCAA), but they’re the only one we’ve got.”

Assistant coach Chad Scott, who recruited Anderson to Troy, spent a lot of time gathering information on Anderson’s behalf for the NCAA. When Troy’s game at LSU was postponed earlier this year, it gave Scott an opportunity to fly to Fort Lauderdale to get more information.

Still, the answer was no.

“Chad Scott did an enormous amount of work trying to help the boy find out what he needed to do to produce for these people,” Blakeney said. “We were so
persistent that I guess the only way (the NCAA) said we can get rid of these folks is to tell them no, and that’s what they did.

“I don’t know enough about the whole thing, but I know just enough to be pissed off about it. It’s typical NCAA. They use these strong-arm tactics and on so many kids, they’re just guessing.”

It’s the second time this year that the NCAA has ruled against a Troy athlete, as the NCAA ruled freshman Josh Jarboe as a transfer student after being dismissed from Oklahoma in early August as a result of his explicit rap video finding its way online. Jarboe took two summer classes at Oklahoma and is sitting out this year as a transfer, but is practicing with the team.

“They said Joshua Jarboe did it to himself, but he didn’t do it to himself,” Blakeney said. “He was innocent except for clowning around with a teammate who put the video on the Internet.”

Blakeney said he felt that Anderson would stick it out through the year at Troy, but said he hadn’t seen him in a few days since the decision was handed down.