Alls we need to know about Pratt...

"It's division one football."

"Go play intramurals, brother."

I'm actually happy he decomitted now, this just made me feel much better about the situation.

Oh yeah, the "we didn't want you anyway" post after a kid chooses against LSU. Love it.

There are a lot of rumors going around about the Dexter Pratt situation. None of it is good, but not all of it is hopeless. I'll give you the rundown.

Dexter Pratt was an early commitment to the 2009 class for LSU. He is out of Navasota, Texas, which is pretty close to College Station. He's listed as an "athlete", but most see him as a running back. As a runner, he is very reminiscent of Charles Scott. He's big and strong, with good hands out of the backfield. He lacks elite speed, but he can get around just fine. What's more, he is a good student who was reportedly all set to start school this month at LSU and be there for Spring Practice.

I really like him as a prospect, and while he is unlikely to be an instant impact player, he's a very solid recruit of whom big things can be expected eventually.

Well, he got to LSU to report for classes, but his paperwork was not in order. He was not cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. The inner workings of the Clearinghouse are murky, and I do not fully understand them, but I will explain it as best I can.

A school may not give a player financial aid based on a football scholarship unless and until his academic credentials are approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse looks at transcripts, test scores, and the high school's curriculum to see if everything measures up. They look for things like test scores that greatly increase from one attempt at it to the next, an excess of correspondence or remedial course work, or inaptly named high school classes (for example if something is labeled Algebra II but really only teaches remedial math, the student may not be given credit for having taken an advanced Algebra class).

The process takes time, and I understand it is up to the kid's high school to get all the paperwork in to the Clearinghouse to start the process. In Pratt's case, supposedly his paperwork was not cleared yet. The same thing happened to Patrick Johnson (now Patrick Peterson) last year, and he was not able to enroll at LSU for Spring.

What happened after Pratt reported to Baton Rouge is the source of much speculation and we won't get into that. The end result is that Pratt is now back in Navasota and is seriously reconsidering whether he really wants to come to LSU at all. After a few days of speculation, he took a visit to Oklahoma State and is now listed as a commitment to them. LSU holds out hope of convincing him that whatever his problem at LSU was would pass.

When asked about what happened at LSU, I got the impression he got to Baton Rouge and then felt remorse about being so far from home. I think the Clearinghouse issue gave him an out to reconsider the whole thing.

When all is said and done, we will probably end up losing Dexter Pratt, which would be a real shame. He looks like a pretty good player. We'll know for sure in a couple weeks.

sounds like his mom will be feeding him chicken at osu

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When asked about what happened at LSU, I got the impression he got to Baton Rouge and then felt remorse about being so far from home. I think the Clearinghouse issue gave him an out to reconsider the whole thing.

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well, i mean...since mapquest has navasota to stillwater being 2 hours longer to get to than to BR. (7.5 compared to 5.5 hours)

I don't think this had anything to do with being closer to home. I think the Fedoras were in this guy's head constantly over the past year...talking up Oklahoma State and Gundy (now referred to as Gumby), trying to sway him. Maybe he was having second thoughts and went he got to campus and was setting up for the dorms he was really having second thoughts. Then the clearinghouse issue came along and gave him the perfect opportunity to bolt. Just saying.

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Oh yeah, the "we didn't want you anyway" post after a kid chooses against LSU. Love it.

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I did not say in my post I don't want him here. I really do want him here.

I would much rather see him mature in this season of his life, go to LSU, fulfill his commitments (cause commitments mean something - which is another maturity growth he could use right now) and experience a great college life playing ball and winning championships.

I'm afraid he's gonna wilt under the wings of his mommy and coach and lose more Pacific Life Holiday Bowls.

Don't put words in my mouth that I don't post, brother.

so why would the coach of southern miss carry any weight in pratt's decision?

Because he is the former O-Coordinator at Oklahoma State under Gumby. He could tell Pratt how great an offensive coach Gumby is, how well Kendall Hunter has done, look at how well DeAndre Brown did this year. Do you think DeAndre Brown would have had that kind of year at LSU? I can hear it. Gumby and the Fedora brothers are all close; I'm sure the Fedoras would have no problem trying to pull Pratt to OSU. I just have a feeling this was a tag team job. Pratt did not just go to LSU, change his mind on the spot, then go to Stillwater a couple of days later. He had to have been thinking about Stillwater.