Honor-Student Gridder Drops the Ball on College Tests

When he was a senior at Pomona High School, running back J. J. Flannigan’s work in the classroom was as impressive as his success on the football field.

The 6-1, 190-pound consensus prep All-American carried a 3.5 grade-point average on a scale of 4.0 and made the school’s honor roll for the third consecutive year.

That matched his brilliance on the field, where he rushed for 1,530 yards and 18 touchdowns in 165 carries--an outstanding average of 9.2 yards a carry.

No wonder Flannigan was recruited by major colleges such as USC, Michigan, Oklahoma and UC Berkeley before finally selecting Colorado.

But the 18-year-old Flannigan, despite his high grades, will not play a down for Colorado this season.

That is because Flannigan scored a 12 on the American College Test, one less than the minimum required by the NCAA’s newly adopted Proposition 48 eligibility standards.

Flannigan also took another college entrance examination, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and missed the minimum score by 20 points.

Under Proposition 48 requirements, a prep athlete must score at least 13 points on the ACT or 680 points on the SAT and carry a 2.0 grade-point average to be eligible to play intercollegiate sports as a freshman.

So Flannigan joins a growing list of incoming college freshmen who will not be playing this year. Under Proposition 48 guidelines, Flannigan retains his scholarship but is not allowed to eat or train with the team this season and loses one year of eligibility.

That puts a crimp in Flannigan’s plans but it has not soured his feelings about college.

“I feel I am prepared for college,” he said. “I know I can do the class work. I just think some people don’t test well (in entrance exams) and I am one of them.”

Because of the new requirements, it would be understandable to hear at least a little bitterness in Flannigan’s voice. But you will not hear it from him.

“I don’t knock the rule,” he said. “I think it just makes the athlete work that much harder. You just have to want it more.

“We can’t eat at the training table and we can’t practice with the team but I think the rule is still pretty good.”

Flannigan had first heard that he might be ineligible more than a month ago. He received confirmation of his fears after he played well in the Shrine All-Star Football Game on Aug. 2 at the Rose Bowl, rushing for 23 yards in 6 carries against many of the top college prospects in the nation. “It didn’t hit me until after I got back from Shrine camp,” he said. “I found out about it maybe two weeks ago and it bothered me at first. But then, after I thought about it, I figured maybe I do need the extra year away from football and in the classroom.

“I wanted to play bad. I think my body was ready and the Shrine game put my mind back in the game. I was ready to play. I guess I’ll just have to wait another year to play football again.”

Because he is ineligible, Flannigan will also miss the Colorado track season in the spring. Considering that he ran the 100-meter dash in 10.5 seconds as a senior at Pomona, Flannigan also figured to boost the Buffaloes in track.

“My speed is the one thing that has really gotten me this far. I was hoping to run track this year but I won’t be able to do that either.”

How will the well-built Flannigan stay in shape in the interim?

“I’ll read the playbook, take a look at the films and work out in the weight room--I just won’t be able to do it with the team,” Flannigan said.

That, he says, will require a lot of self-discipline.

“Discipline is the main thing. I can’t do anything with the team, so I have to plan everything around my class schedule. It will be tough, but I can do it.”

Flannigan thinks that in the long run his year away from the game should be a good experience.

“I’ll just hit the books a little harder,” he said. “I think I’ll be smarter in the classroom and smarter for the game.”

With the extra year of preparation, Flannigan says he will be a more hungry and disciplined player when he hits the practice field for the first time next year.

“I think when I come back I’ll be the most prepared player on the team. I’ll be that much more determined to show what I can do.”