School expels Mountaineers' prized football recruit
Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor
Monday April 17, 2006
A player considered by most football recruiting observers as West Virginia University's top signee for 2006 has been suspended from his prep school and will not graduate there.
Greg Davis, who is expected to figure immediately into WVU's two-deep secondary picture at cornerback once August workouts begin, has been suspended from private Blue Ridge School in Dyke, Va., following alleged multiple honor code violations and physical altercations.
Blue Ridge Headmaster Dave Bouton told The (Charlottesville, Va.) Daily Progress the 6-foot-3, 198-pound Davis was implicated in three honor code violation charges and "several" altercations this semester.
Bouton told the paper the school's honor council established no proof on the honor code charges.
"There was a gray area of uncertainty," he said. "I would not expel Greg Davis or anyone else with that gray area."
The Blue Ridge administrator was quoted as saying the player's physical altercations compounded the issue and a disciplinary committee recommended suspension.
"We are going to take him as long as he does his part academically, and we'll continue to support him as long as Greg does what he needs to do," WVU Coach Rich Rodriguez said by phone today from Morgantown. "He's got to do his part, and he knows that.
"The head of the school (Bouton) and coach there (Mike Alley) have been in contact with us and kept us informed. They've talked to Stew (assistant coach Bill Stewart, who was Davis' primary WVU recruiter), and we've researched it and talked to Greg and his family about the issues and our concerns."
The Charlottesville newspaper reported that Davis is living with his family in Windsor Mill, Md., and Rodriguez said WVU has been told the recruit is doing school work via e-mail through Alley, who is Davis' academic advisor as well as coach.
Bouton said Davis would continue to receive academic support from the Virginia school if his family arranged for private tutors.
Bouton notified the Mountaineer football program of Davis' situation. The headmaster said although he will help Davis meet academic requirements for a transcript, the WVU recruit will not be permitted to return to the Blue Ridge campus or graduate from the school.
"Because of his conduct, we don't feel Greg deserves to be a Blue Ridge graduate," Bouton is quoted by the Daily Progress. "At the same time, once he completes his educational requirements, we don't feel Greg should be double-jeopardized by not having a transcript, which can facilitate his success at the next level."
Davis, nicknamed "Hollywood," will have an opportunity to take Blue Ridge exams, via Alley, toward transcript completion.
If Davis doesn't graduate from high school, he cannot play for WVU, and his only option would be to attend prep school. He is said to have the necessary standardized test score and grade-point average, but without enough credits, he is regarded as a non-qualifier by the NCAA Clearinghouse.
A recent Big East Conference rules change prohibits the acceptance of non-qualifiers.
Davis signed in early February, picking WVU over Miami (Fla.), Nebraska, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Maryland among others, all of whom saw him as a tall, shutdown corner.
When he signed, Davis said WVU Coach Rich Rodriguez "told me I could come in and start as a freshman cornerback. They told me I was better than (Adam "Pac-Man" Jones) coming out" of high school. "I can promise you that anyone that comes here is going to conform to what we want," Rodriguez said today. "We're not going to conform to them."
