Richard, a question

Recruiting Insider Board
#1

The NCAA has a rule that walk-ons can’t play football on an academic scholarship unless they were completely unrecruited, a la Kikko Haydar in hoops. Rationale was to prevent schools from giving unlimited academic money to get around recruiting limits.

Which brings me to Donovan Whitten, the QB/LB from Arkadelphia who got the PWO: Arkadelphia is one of the towns where they fund a scholarship to any high school graduate who attends a school in-state, either public or private (El Dorado also does that; there may be others). But it’s not linked to which school you attend; Whitten could go to UA or Ouachita or Henderson and still get the Arkadelphia Promise scholarship.

So if he got that scholarship which is not tied to UA (thus UA not using it to evade the 85 limit), could he play?

#2

This is what I’m told.

Kikko had to be a non-recruited walk-on because he was receiving institutional aid.

The Arkadelphia aid is considered a non-athletics outside scholarship that doesn’t have an athletics component to it. Similar to the Arkansas Challenge.

#3

OK that’s what I thought but with the NCAA you’re never quite sure.

#4

Agree. Hard to keep up.

#5

I looked up some info on the Arkadelphia Promise, which is about 10 years old now. The Arkadelphia superintendent when the Promise was created was … Donovan Whitten Sr. He’s retired now as a superintendent but is working for some educational consortium.