re: LSU commit Jordan Mickey ineligible for senior season

Jordan Mickey, the lone Arlington Grace Prep transfer approved by the 11-3A district executive committee to play at Prime Prep, was ruled ineligible by a 3-2 vote during an emergency meeting Wednesday morning. Unless overturned by the state executive committee or through litigation, Mickey will not be playing varsity basketball for Deion Sanders’ charter school, joining fellow ineligible Grace Prep transfers Emmanuel Mudiay, Damon Collins and Karviar Shepherd.

The 6-8 LSU pledge had been originally approved by the 11-3A DEC by a 3-2 vote on Oct. 10, with coaches and administrators from Wilmer-Hutchins, Irving North Hills and Roosevelt approving his Previous Athletic Participation Form. On Wednesday morning, Wilmer-Hutchins coach Elzie Barnett claimed confusion on his vote during the initial hearing, saying that he believed he was voting for a different PAPF.

Barnett is not the only DEC member to make a voting error during the hurried process, where – on short notice – the five-member panel reviewed 14 basketball players transferring to the new charter school.
Roosevelt campus coordinator John Simon told the state executive committee last week that he mistakenly voted yes on a PAPF vote for Mudiay.

In Austin last week, the SEC ruled 5-0 on all three appeals, upholding the district committee’s denials. State committee members found suspicion in timelines offered by Prime Prep regarding the students’ transfers and the hiring for former Grace Prep basketball coach Ray Forsett.

With Mickey, Mudiay and Collins, along with 7-0 Baylor signee Isaiah Austin, Forsett won back-to-back TAPPS titles at Grace Prep before resigning to join Sanders’ staff at the Oak Cliff school.

The DEC did approve, on a 3-2 vote, the PAPF of Lincoln transfer Shirmane Thomas, despite a letter from Lincoln coach Leonard Bishop stating that he believed (without tangible evidence) Thomas transferred to follow his friends and AAU teammates to the school. Thomas played with Shepherd and Mickey on DFW Urban Elite, the team run by Jazzy Hartwell, Shepherd’s co-guardian.