Injustice once again for Julian Smith

I'm a lot like Kirk Ferentz when it comes to understanding the in's and out's of the NCAA rules and regulations. When it comes to issues of what makes a player eligible or not out of high school, you might as well be speaking a foreign language. But, I know right from wrong and logical from illogical and the case of Julian Smith and his departure from the University of Iowa (again) doesn't pass the smell test.

On Saturday we learned officially from Coach Ferentz what we posted in the Hawkeye Lounge on Friday night to be true, that Julian Smith's career as an Iowa Hawkeye would once again be put on hold. As a result, pin Ft. Dodge, IA on to the map of his quest to get to Iowa City, as Smith will officially enroll at Iowa Central Community College on Monday morning.

This will be the latest stop on what has become all too far of a journey for a young man simply hoping to continue his education and athletic career. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this drama is the level of incompetence shown by the Clearinghouse and the NCAA in giving a young man a timely answer on which direction his life would take.

The athletic career of Julian Smith started out in Canton, MI, where the Hawkeyes found a 6-foot-4, 220-pound athlete who was being under recruited at the time because of concerns over his high school grades.

Make no mistake, Smith was probably not what you would call a great high school student when it came to academic performance. He played every sport he could throughout the year and it's safe to say that the school books probably didn't get cracked as often as they should.

But, Smith was a risk worth taking and Iowa offered a football scholarship even though he had little to no chance of qualifying. The Iowa coaches were honest and frank with him and gave him some possible options. He could stay at Canton for the second semester, graduate and then probably end up at a junior college for a couple of years. Hindsight is always 20/20 and at this point that might have been the best thing to do thanks to the Clearinghouse and the NCAA. His other option was to find a prep school and try to get things on the right track academically as soon as possible and that meant leaving Canton in January and enrolling at Milford Academy in New Berlin, NY.

Smith chose door number two, packed his bags and headed east. But, before he left, he had taken the ACT and after arriving in New Berlin, he found out he had scored a 24 on the test, which is very good. As we find out later, probably too good in the eyes of the NCAA.

What the test score showed to those close to Julian was that the poor grades in high school were more about a lack of focus on academics than a kid who did not have the ability to make it in the college classroom. Most people can see that, but not the NCAA.

So, Smith makes the best of his time at Milford. He starts out a linebacker and ends up starring at running back for Coach Bill Chaplick. More importantly, he raises his GPA and completes core course work at the long time prep school that has produced players like Shonn Greene and Fred Russell and sent them to the University of Iowa.

Smith spends a full year in New Berlin and once again packs his bags, this time for Iowa City in January. It seems that the dream ending has finally been reached for Smith. With the Hawkeyes saying goodbye to Abdul Hodge and Chad Greenway, the door was open for Smith to make an impact in spring drills and possibly earn playing time this fall at linebacker.

Sometimes dreams turn into nightmares and that is exactly what happened to Smith. Shortly after getting comfortable at Iowa, he is again sent packing by the fine folks at the NCAA, who make millions of dollars every year on the backs of student-athletes. This time the lords of college athletes pull out a little known rule that says that a student-athlete who leaves his high school during his senior year must wait a full year before they can enroll as a scholarship athlete. Like I said, I don't get some of the rules, but ok.

So, Smith heads back to his home in Canton, MI and has to wait until this summer to arrive on the Iowa campus. It appeared that the roadblocks were in the rearview mirror and in August, Smith gets the all clear signal to start working out and practicing with the Hawkeyes this fall.

As you might expect, Smith was rising quickly up the depth chart and with presumed starter at linebacker Mike Humpal on the sidelines during camp, he moved all the way up to second team and possibly higher. Everyone close to the program felt he was having a heck of a camp.

Then the rug was pulled out once again this past Thursday by, you guessed it, the NCAA and the Clearinghouse, which ironically calls Iowa City home. Apparently, after nearly nine months of time in which to review his test scores and core courses, they could not complete that simple task and thus, Smith could not enroll as a student at Iowa on Monday when classes officially got underway.

There are plenty of words that come to mind right now, but this is a family site and I'll take a pass on using them. But, suffice it to say, this latest turn of event is not sitting well with Iowa fans and obviously Smith's family. I don't know if I would have been as gracious in the past few days as the Smith family has been. I would have probably lawyered up and told the NCAA and Clearinghouse that we will see you in court.

The fact is that if the NCAA is going to use the Clearinghouse as a mechanism for determining the eligibility of student-athletes, then they at least owe them a fair and timely response.

The fact is that they have had since January to give Smith's case a full review and a final answer.

The fact is that they have failed to respond in a timely manner. Saying you are understaffed and unable to complete your work in this case is no excuse. If the NCAA is going to use the Clearinghouse to process prospective student-athletes then those answers have to come sooner rather than later.

The fact is that I think everyone would have been disappointed, but accepting, if the Clearinghouse would have responded in a timely manner with a negative result after a fair hearing of the evidence. You have to trust that they will do their job and do it in the right manner.

The fact is there is no excuse, none, for what has happened to a nice young man who has never had any off the field troubles in his life. Smith is simply a young man who wants to continue his education and athletic career at the University of Iowa.

The fact is that while Smith may have failed at different points in his academic career, he has done the necessary work to right his ship. Right now it is the NCAA and Clearinghouse that have failed Smith and that is the inexcusable result of this long and drawn out mess. That is the real shame here. The organization that represents the highest standards of what it means to be a student-athlete and the collegiate level has once again done more harm than good. For that, they should be embarrassed and ashamed. The NCAA attempts to do right in college athletics, but in this case, they have done Julian Smith wrong.

The fact is this whole debacle and the handling of Julian Smith's case doesn't pass the smell test. The odor surrounding this whole case flat out stinks to high heaven. It's not about the decision that has been made one way or another. It is about the lack of a timely decision that leaves an awful stench on the life of a young man who much deserves better.