Fifty of the 53 football recruits who...

Fifty of the 53 football recruits who did not meet the NCAA’s new academic requirements at 23 Southern schools last fall are black, according to the Atlanta Constitution newspaper.

Critics of the new rule, known as Bylaw 5-1-(j), say that statistic proves the rule is racially discriminatory.

The NCAA says it will examine the “possible racial bias” of 5-1-(j) when a special subcommittee meets in Kansas City on March 1.

“We’re going to study this in every possible way, and race is one issue we will be sensitive to,” said NCAA president Wilford Bailey, a professor at Auburn University.

In 1986, teams in the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences, plus independents South Carolina, Florida State, Miami and Tulane, signed 532 football recruits. Of those, 53, or 10%, were “nonqualifiers” under 5-1-(j). That means they will be ineligible to compete as freshmen because of low grade-point averages or poor standardized test scores, or both.

Fifty of those 53, or 94%, are black.

Under Bylaw 5-1-(j), an athlete is ineligible as a freshmen if his SAT score is below 700 or his high school grade-point average is below 2.0.