From an article in The Athletic:

"Cal came to talk to him when he was in high school, and that was like his dream college to go to," Adams' mom says. "And then when they start talking GPA, they took a look at his transcript and they saw a couple D's or whatever on there, and they frown upon D's."

I'm glad our school frowns on "a couple Ds or whatever" on a high school transcript, tbh.

I'm sure a lot of great players would come to Cal...
if they lowered their standards so it wasn't Cal anymore.
So what?

BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

I got into Cal with a D in pre calculus.

82gradDLSdad said:

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I got into Cal with a D in pre calculus.

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I had a D in Spanish 2 on my HS transcript. Insane teacher hated our class and gave everyone in our class Fs and Ds. Retook the class and got an A, which is what counted in my "A through F" GPA for UC. Stanford overlooked the grade too, since I was admitted there (legacy status undoubtedly helped). May have been the reason Pomona College rejected me.

heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

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Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

GMP said:

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heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

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Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

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There's only so much that hand-holding and preferrential treatment can do. Frankly the amount of support any scholorship football player needs is already borderline. Lowering the standards even more and you'd be taking the "student" completely out of what little student there is in the word student-athlete. Do we want to be like UNC where players who read at an elementary-school level are admitted and rubber-stamped through their classes so that they can play?

pingpong2 said:

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GMP said:

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heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

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Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

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There's only so much that hand-holding and preferrential treatment can do. Frankly the amount of support any scholorship football player needs is already borderline. Lowering the standards even more and you'd be taking the "student" completely out of what little student there is in the word student-athlete. Do we want to be like UNC where players who read at an elementary-school level are admitted and rubber-stamped through their classes so that they can play?

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I think the last sentence of my post, which you didn't bold, addresses your concerns.

GMP said:

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pingpong2 said:

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GMP said:

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heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

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Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

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There's only so much that hand-holding and preferrential treatment can do. Frankly the amount of support any scholorship football player needs is already borderline. Lowering the standards even more and you'd be taking the "student" completely out of what little student there is in the word student-athlete. Do we want to be like UNC where players who read at an elementary-school level are admitted and rubber-stamped through their classes so that they can play?

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I think the last sentence of my post, which you didn't bold, addresses your concerns.

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Football and basketball used to have two slots each for "exceptional" talent: guys like Russell White, Jason Kidd, Leon Powe and Marshawn Lynch(?). At Cal, Russell White was discovered to be dyslexic, it was corrected and he ended up getting a Master's degree when pro football didn't work out. Does anyone really think Cal was not "Cal" with those players?

Davante Adams ending up at Fresno State says more about him that anything related to us.

Strykur said:

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Davante Adams ending up at Fresno State says more about him that anything related to us.

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Pretty much.

In 2011, Cal was still under the old academic rules where something like 1/2 the team was admitted by exception. The APR/postseason ban issue had not come up yet, as the NCAA did not raise that APR to a problematic point for Cal until August 2011. There were plenty of 'academic risks' taken under Tedford.

My opinion is still that the APR issues were not just Tedford's fault, but a failure of the athletic department as a whole to recognize the impact of that rule change quickly enough. But Tedford should not be absolved either - he held major responsibility in that the punishments for not going to class and failing were not great enough - as in players still played.

Rivals has the 2011 Cal recruiting class as 15th in the nation, with all 3 and 4 star recruits.

They also had Adams as a 2-star.

So it absolutely makes sense to balk at a 2 star with D's.

If someone really wants to replace D's in high school, all it takes is a little effort (retaking the class essentially). Cal can now only take 20% of a class as exceptions, so that's 4-5 per year for the football team.

GMP said:

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heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

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Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

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Has to have enough smarts and be committed to working at it.

GMP said:

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heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

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Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

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Shows to go you where my memory has gone. I was at that game and thought that he had played and caught some long passes. It must have been someone else.

ColoradoBear said:

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Strykur said:

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Davante Adams ending up at Fresno State says more about him that anything related to us.

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Pretty much.

In 2011, Cal was still under the old academic rules where something like 1/2 the team was admitted by exception. The APR/postseason ban issue had not come up yet, as the NCAA did not raise that APR to a problematic point for Cal until August 2011. There were plenty of 'academic risks' taken under Tedford.

My opinion is still that the APR issues were not just Tedford's fault, but a failure of the athletic department as a whole to recognize the impact of that rule change quickly enough. But Tedford should not be absolved either - he held major responsibility in that the punishments for not going to class and failing were not great enough - as in players still played.

Rivals has the 2011 Cal recruiting class as 15th in the nation, with all 3 and 4 star recruits.

They also had Adams as a 2-star.

So it absolutely makes sense to balk at a 2 star with D's.

If someone really wants to replace D's in high school, all it takes is a little effort (retaking the class essentially). Cal can now only take 20% of a class as exceptions, so that's 4-5 per year for the football team.

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Let's see, retaking pre calculus or taking driver's ed, as a 16 year old senior in HS? I remember that being a really tough decision for me...not.

pingpong2 said:

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GMP said:

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heartofthebear said:

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BTW, Cal beat Devonte Adams and Derek Carr at Candlestick park to start the 2011 season, iirc. by Zach Maynard and company. Michael Kendricks was one of a deep core of LBs that helped make that defense good enough to beat future NFL guys like that.
They played the rest of their home games that season at the Giant's ballpark, then called AT&T park.

---

Not correct. Davante redshirted that year. He only played two seasons at Fresno - went over 100 catches each year, for a total of over 3,000 yards and 38 TDs.

If we can't take a guy that good because of a couple Ds, we are never going to be good again. Instead of being snobs, we should work to help the kid succeed at Cal. We can't take them all, but you have to make an exception or two every year.

---

There's only so much that hand-holding and preferrential treatment can do. Frankly the amount of support any scholorship football player needs is already borderline. Lowering the standards even more and you'd be taking the "student" completely out of what little student there is in the word student-athlete. Do we want to be like UNC where players who read at an elementary-school level are admitted and rubber-stamped through their classes so that they can play?

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First of all, the context of a bad grade matters a lot. Was it freshmen year? Or junior year? Was something in the student's personal life at that time impacting academcis? What is the academic trajectory? What other indications are there that the student is academically motivated or bright?

Beyond that, grades are not the only metric of success at Cal. Leon Powe had earl life obstacles beyond any of those faced by 99% of the students at Cal and I'm sure it affected his academics. And the Russell White example has already been mentioned.

No one is saying football players (or anyone else) should be rubberstamped through Cal. That is a strawman.

Cal and other universities admit many people with exceptional non-academic talents (music, art, etc.) based on factors outside the classroom. Athletics is such a talent and should be no different - perhaps even more preferenced given the outsized role in the University and $$ impacts (i.e., football basically paying for all other sports).

If Cal wants to have a successful D-1 football team, you have to compete on an even playing field. Every school makes academic exceptions for athletes. Choosing to be different and applying an academic purity test is a recipe for losing. Cal's current policies in that regard are a self inflicted wound.

"Cal and other universities admit many people with exceptional non-academic talents (music, art, etc.) based on factors outside the classroom. Athletics is such a talent and should be no different - perhaps even more preferenced given the outsized role in the University and $$ impacts (i.e., football basically paying for all other sports).

If Cal wants to have a successful D-1 football team, you have to compete on an even playing field. Every school makes academic exceptions for athletes. Choosing to be different and applying an academic purity test is a recipe for losing. Cal's current policies in that regard are a self inflicted wound."

Exactly. Cal has too many conflicting goals when it comes to high level D1 football, an activity I might suggest is like two full time jobs. Conflicting goals is the hallmark of bad management.