GHSA rules two Marietta football players remain ineligible, a third is cleared to play

THOMASTON— Following a two-hour appeals hearing last Friday morning, the Georgia High School Association’s executive committee ruled Marietta High School juniors Rashad Torrence and Dawson Ellington ineligible for the 2018 football season.

The four-member committee reversed its previous decision on senior Jalen Hardy, who was eligible to play in Marietta’s second game of the season Friday night at Northcutt Stadium.

The students hugged each other inside the wood-paneled meeting room after the hearing, which was attended by their parents and attorneys.

The three young men were ruled ineligible to play last month after an investigation into their transfers to Marietta.

Cobb Superior Court Senior Judge Conley Ingram this week issued an order declaring the students eligible to play until the GHSA could hold individual hearings for each of them.

Marietta’s football team was forced to vacate last year’s eight wins after it was discovered Torrence and Ellington, two highly rated college prospects, lived outside Marietta city limits and that paperwork filed by the district on their behalf contained errors. Because Ellington also ran track, the boys track and field team had to vacate its season also.

Both Torrence and Ellington have mothers employed as teachers at elementary schools within the district, which means their children may attend Marietta but not play varsity sports there, according to GHSA bylaws. Both of their mothers began at Burruss and Dunleith elementary schools just before the 2017-18 school year began.

Forms submitted to the GHSA by the school last year, however, claimed the students’ parents were employed at the high school, which was not the case.

Last Friday, the players’ attorneys and parents argued the documents were submitted to the GHSA by the school without their approval, and said they were told by Marietta coaches and former athletic director Paul Hall that their children were eligible to play because they worked for the school district.

Attorney Yari Lawson, who represented Ellington, said it was Marietta’s athletic department that made the mistake, and that it wasn’t fair to punish the students because of it.

“The family, in good faith, relied on the advice they received from the athletic director,” Lawson said, imploring the committee members to recall their time playing high school sports and imagine how devastated they would have been to miss an entire season.

With last year’s wins vacated and the players’ stats from the 2017 season wiped out, the attorneys argued the students had already been punished enough.

Addressing the board, Ellington told them he only wanted to play football again.

“Me and my family did nothing wrong,” he said. “I just want to play football. That’s all I ever wanted to do.”

He then listed some of the colleges that have offered him scholarships.

Among them were UNC Chapel Hill, Syracuse, Alabama, Louisville, UCLA, Louisiana State, Arizona, Pittsburgh and Michigan.

The three students have 21 scholarship offers between them, their attorneys said.

The board did not offer Torrence or Ellington an explanation for why their rulings were upheld.

In the parking lot of the GHSA headquarters, the parents of Torrence and Ellington wiped tears from their eyes, vowing not to give up on their children or their dreams of attending college on football scholarships.

“We’re not only disappointed in the GHSA, but we’re also disappointed in Marietta City Schools,” said Rashad Torrence Sr. “We feel they turned their backs on us.”

Hardy ruled eligible to play

Hardy, a senior, transferred to Marietta during the offseason from Fayette County’s Whitewater High School and hoped to join the team this year.

While the Hardy family purchased a home in Marietta last October and filed for a homestead exemption, the GHSA ruled last month it was not a “bona fide move” because the teen’s entire immediate family did not also make the move, which is required under GHSA bylaws.

Hardy’s situation was “selfreported” by Marietta City Schools, which sent a social worker to his family’s Marietta condo after the GHSA launched its investigation into allegations the school was recruiting talented players from across the state to move into the district to play football, according to Hardy’s attorney.

Last Friday, the GHSA reversed its initial ruling on Hardy, saying his move was, in fact, legitimate since his younger brother enrolled this year and his entire immediate family is together under the same roof.

Because Hardy did not play last season, his “migrant status” was waived and he is allowed to play with the team.

Following the hearing, LeAnthony Hardy, Jalen Hardy’s father, had mixed emotions about what transpired.

“I’m happy for my son but I feel bad for the others,” he said, acknowledging Torrence and Ellington badly wanted to return to the field after their stellar 2017 seasons.

Recruiting allegations

Robin Hines, the GHSA’s executive director, said the investigation into Marietta began in January when the organization started receiving calls from metro Atlanta athletic directors accusing Marietta of recruiting players.

“We received an allegation that 23 players had transferred into Marietta High School the last two years and Marietta High School confirmed that 18 had moved in,” Hines said. “Among this group, there are quite a few highly-ranked (college) recruits.”

Hines said several Marietta parents have also complained that because of all the transfers, their children aren’t making the team or getting the playing time they thought they would.

Marietta and head football coach Richard Morgan have denied allegations the team seeks talented players from outside the district.