I just did some reading but can't figure out…

This guy was born in Oct 1997. He is 25.
He graduated Pierce County high school in 2017, 5 months before turning 20.
(I graduated at 17, 3 months shy of 18.)

How is it possible to be such an old high schooler?

Perhaps he was an old kid in his grade and then did a 5th year at one of those finishing high schools? I just don't get it, never heard of such a thing.

BI will offer me some wisdom, not all of which is related to the topic raised.

Most schools are done May/June. Plus 5 months is an Oct/Nov birthday. Maybe the parents held him back a year (not uncommon - parents do this tos come to give their kids academic and athletic advantage in life). Then if he did a 5th year at a prep school that gets you the extra 2 years.

it isn't completely unheard of for particularly athletic parents, expecting a similarly athletic son, to hold their kid out a year to give him the best chance of success. or he could have just been held back because he had some development challenges.

with all the extra covid years kids have gotten over the last 3 seasons, it feels like there are lots of players in their mid 20s (late 20s if you're talking those taking LDS missions and what not) in college football, so it probably isn't that much of an outlier, even if he was a particularly old high school senior

The best athlete in my grammar school was a kid who was held back. He won the MVP for every season. He was two inches taller and just a bit faster than everyone else. Maybe Stetson was held back two years. It happens. Could have had some early issues.

Can't comment on the age thing, but that dude will never pay for his drinks again in Athens, Georgia. Dude's got UGA on the brink of back-to-back national titles. If you told me the name "Stetson Bennett IV," I'd swear you were talking about the entitled son of some oil industry tycoon, not an absolute gym rat who seems to make big plays when they're needed most.

Held back one year would do it for HS graduation. CA is somewhat of an oddball state with regards to having a december cutoff for being 5 in kindergarten - most seem to be around Sept 1, or the first day of class. So an October birthday would turn 18 in October their senior HS year, not in college.

NVBear78 said:

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He redshirted in Kindergarten...

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OK
That got a laugh out of me.

NVBear78 said:

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He redshirted in Kindergarten...

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Got his NIL from Georgia in the first grade

ColoradoBear said:

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Held back one year would do it for HS graduation. CA is somewhat of an oddball state with regards to having a december cutoff for being 5 in kindergarten - most seem to be around Sept 1, or the first day of class. So an October birthday would turn 18 in October their senior HS year, not in college.

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This is my kid, he plays against other kids who are 14-18 months older than him. It sucks as his HS is fairly competitive in his chosen sport, but athletics isn't the only thing in life and he was always happier hanging with an older crowd socially and academically.

I know of folks who took 2 their kids on a year long trip to hold them back in high school. It worked out for one but not the other.

It's a pretty insane thing to do. SFUSD doesn't allow it. If you don't enroll your kid in kindergarten when they should and then enroll the kid the next year, they'll place them in first grade.

But there is at least one local Catholic school that does it on their own. This school rejected my friend's kid for kindergarten and told him to enroll again the next year. He said they told him they do this to increase test scores. So he sent his kid to public school for a year and then back to the Catholic school for a second year of kindergarten.

GMP said:

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It's a pretty insane thing to do. SFUSD doesn't allow it. If you don't enroll your kid in kindergarten when they should and then enroll the kid the next year, they'll place them in first grade.

But there is at least one local Catholic school that does it on their own. This school rejected my friend's kid for kindergarten and told him to enroll again the next year. He said they told him they do this to increase test scores. So he sent his kid to public school for a year and then back to the Catholic school for a second year of kindergarten.

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Sacred Heart (and St. Monica's) in SF had no problem with me graduating at 16. I guess times have changed.

ColoradoBear said:

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Held back one year would do it for HS graduation. CA is somewhat of an oddball state with regards to having a december cutoff for being 5 in kindergarten - most seem to be around Sept 1, or the first day of class. So an October birthday would turn 18 in October their senior HS year, not in college.

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Just FYI,
California changed from Dec 1 cutoff to Sept 1 a number of years ago.

My 4th kid (now a jr in hs) was born Sept 25 and was going to be one of the youngest.
My 5th kid (now 8th grader) was born Oct 3 and was destined to be one of the oldest.

So, we had the 4th do 2nd grade over again to keep the kids distanced by grade the same as by age.
Yes, you can "redshirt" kindergarten. It's a common thing, especially amongst parents who can afford the extra year of Pre-K care - because studies show they do better.

Stetson, though, took it to a whole new level! My kids will turn 19 just after graduation. He turned 20 just after. Odd.

The cutoff to start kindergarten has been age 5 by 9/1 starting in 2014. By spring 2028 there will be less of these super young kids graduating unless they choose to finish high school early.

rkt88edmo said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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Held back one year would do it for HS graduation. CA is somewhat of an oddball state with regards to having a december cutoff for being 5 in kindergarten - most seem to be around Sept 1, or the first day of class. So an October birthday would turn 18 in October their senior HS year, not in college.

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This is my kid, he plays against other kids who are 14-18 months older than him. It sucks as his HS is fairly competitive in his chosen sport, but athletics isn't the only thing in life and he was always happier hanging with an older crowd socially and academically.

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I was glad to "redshirt" my kid so that they could be the older ones.
Not for sports, but for things like sex and drugs and social hazing and just confidence in general.
It's worked out well.

My wife and I were both younger in our classes and we agreed that HS would have been easier (me for sports, and her for dating) had we been a year older. We both hit puberty late.

Yeah, my wife didn't really get the difference for guys and sports, my senior HS year, my team, all the top players were born Aug-Dec and hadn't been pushed forward so 18 years old in our senior season. But certainly HS sports and HS isn't the real goal.