THE SIDELINES : Blacks’ Grades Football Barrier

Blacks are more likely than whites to be barred from playing high school football in Florida because of failure to meet academic standards, a University of Florida study has found.

Fifty-seven percent of the state’s high school students who failed to get high enough grades to play football were black, even though they represent only about 37% of all varsity football players, said Michael Ryan, a sports and fitness instructor at the university.

Overall, 858 of 11,479 varsity athletes failed to get the minimum 1.5 grade-point average required to play football. Of those who didn’t meet the standards, 489 were black, 289 were white, 76 were Latino and four were other ethnic groups, Ryan said.

Ryan’s research is based on a survey of 76%, or 254 of the state’s 334 high school varsity football coaches.