Crenshaw Stresses College as the Goal

An important trend is underway at Crenshaw High that’s deserving of a loud drumroll, if not a fireworks display.

What needs to be celebrated is proof that athletes attending a high school in a low-income area are just as capable of fulfilling NCAA academic requirements as someone from a $16,000-a-year private school in a suburban enclave.

Crenshaw, thanks to football Coach Robert Garrett and his Academic Touchdown Club, has begun to routinely get its top players NCAA qualified with completed core classes and passing SAT scores.

Too many times, top athletes are unable to accept a college scholarship because they failed to devote the needed time and attention to their schoolwork.

But look what’s happening to Crenshaw players. Fourth-ranked California has two starting players, defensive tackle Brandon Mebane and defensive back Daymeion Hughes, who are Crenshaw graduates. So is the tailback at Oregon, Terrence Whitehead, and the fullback at top-ranked USC, Lee Webb.

Crenshaw graduate Abraham Elimimian is a starting defensive back at Hawaii, and his brother Jacob plays at San Diego State.

This season, three Crenshaw players have committed to UCLA: lineman Aleksey Lanis, linebacker Reggie Carter and defensive end Chinonso Anyanwu. Two others, receiver Gardner McKay and linebacker Solomon Elimimian, are NCAA qualified and figure to end up with scholarships.

While much of the focus is on Crenshaw’s reaching tonight’s City Championship division semifinals against Coliseum League rival Dorsey, the more important story is that talented athletes are heeding the pleas of their parents, coaches and teachers to take care of business in the classroom so that they can have a chance to attend college.

Garrett doesn’t order anyone to attend tutoring sessions in the off-season. He learned long ago that each individual must be committed on his own.

“If you want to be successful, we’ll assist you,” he said. “If not, oh well.”

Garrett has brought in alumni, former principals and professional people to help tutor and mentor players.

“If you need help, say something,” he said. “Their parents play a bigger part, but we work collectively with them. Parents are the key. They have to assist, as in checking homework and signing documents.”

Garrett has the best role model possible to show his players in assistant coach Eric Scott, a former Crenshaw player who was a receiver at UCLA, graduated and is a teacher at Crenshaw.

Scott constantly tells the players what they need to do to reach the college level. He has taken them for campus visits to USC and UCLA.

“It’s a direct approach,” Garrett said. “We know what their goals and aspirations are. A lot of kids want to be student athletes, but according to their work habits, they aren’t. [Scott] is what we call an example. He did it.”

To raise funds for the Academic Touchdown Club, Crenshaw has held summer clinics. UCLA’s coaching staff worked it one season, and California’s coaching staff worked it another year.

It’s sometimes difficult to judge Garrett, who can be gruff, if not ornery, when he believes someone isn’t treating him or his players fairly.

But he clearly is doing his best to give Crenshaw players the chance to obtain a better future if they want to work at it.

“That’s my only satisfaction -- to assist kids with opportunities to further their education,” he said.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.