NCAA’s eligibility rule impacting scholarships
Dylan Canoville was shocked.
As a senior starter on one of the country’s Top 25 boys’ basketball teams, Canoville thought he would have an athletic scholarship locked up by now.
Didn’t happen.
“It put a lot of stress on me,” said Canoville, a 6-5, 210-pound standout at Calvary Christian, ranked No. 22 in the nation by MaxPreps. “I felt like all the work I’d put in had been for nothing.”
Canoville isn’t alone. The NCAA ruled that every one of its players could get an extra year of eligibility so that their collegiate careers don’t have to end in the midst of a pandemic, and that has left precious few scholarships remaining for Canoville and rest of the high school Class of 2021.
For Canoville and seniors like him, this has caused heartache. Senior season, this was supposed to be the biggest year of their lives.
“In August, I took nearly three months off from social media,” said Canoville, who is averaging 12.5 points. “I also started digging into my Bible. I would read verses with two of my teammates.
“As the season has gone on, we’re winning more and more, and I’m worried less. I put it all to God.”
But before he found this peace, Canoville admits he lost a lot of sleep.
“The stress was so bad, I wasn’t functioning at school,” he said. “I was always angry. I’m usually chill, but I was yelling at my closest friends.
“It was eating at me. But I’ve decided that if at the end of the season I have nothing, then I have nothing. It’s not my fault.
“But I think somebody has to offer me. I play on one of the top teams in the nation. … This makes no sense.”
The dearth of offers has also confounded Florida Christian senior Joey Brown, a 6-3, 190-pound point guard who torched Columbus this season with a near triple-double: 32 points, 10 rebounds andnine assists.
But Brown, who entered this weekend averaging 17.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and
4.9 assists, has no NCAA Division I or Division II offers.
This is painful for a 17year-old who has loved the game his whole life. His pacifier as a baby had the look of a miniature basketball.
“When the pandemic hit in March, I thought it would be a five-month thing,” Brown said. “It’s frustrating.
“My goal is to get to the NBA. But the path is different for everybody.”
Brown said being without basketball is unthinkable.
“When I play, the world stops,” he said. “Anything outside of basketball is irrelevant.”
Brown may end up at Division III Mary Baldwin.
University, located in Virginia. He’s also drawing interest from Miami’s St. Thomas University, an NAIA school.
The problem also exists in girls’ basketball, although several of those seniors have already earned scholarships, including Aquinas’ Samara Spencer (Arkansas); the Wyche twins at American Heritage, Taliyah and Tatyana (Florida); Ely’s Ja’Leah Williams (Miami); Westminster Academy’s Emma Wallhoff (Southern Mississippi); Miami Country Day’s Andrea Daley (George Washington); Heritage’s Daniella Aronsky (Division II Emory); Nova’s Sarei McGill (D2 NSU); and Cardinal Gibbons’ Sharale McCormick (D2 Flagler).
No such luck for Dade and Broward boys, who have yet to celebrate even one D1 signing in this recruiting period.
James Henderson, Westminster Christian’s 6-8 forward, could end the drought when the next signing period begins in April. He has a pair of offers from lower-level D1 schools (Hampton, IUPUI) but has yet to commit. He also has interest from UCF, New Orleans and others.
The lack of scholarships is felt by players and their parents, but Coral Gables coach Humberto Govea wears it, too.
Every year before the pandemic, Govea would take his players to several college camps, including Florida State and South Carolina.
“I have four seniors who come from tough neighborhoods,” Govea said. “They need those scholarships. Without it, one of them might be homeless.”