High school football scandal in St. Louis

[CD Boogie]

And ALL schools in Missouri make the playoffs, so what's the point?

To keep a spot in some MaxPreps small-school national rankings, probably. I'm told they were the No. 1-ranked small-school in the nation.

But ****, talk about some ****ed-up priorities.

After this came out and before they canceled the rest of their season, they still probably would have been the favorites to win a state championship, even with 7 forfeit losses to start the season.

Most high school football coaches I've known aren't much smarter than the hs kids they coach.

 

[GilGarrido]

When I was a student in the 1970s, a small-town public school about 40 miles away had successful teams featuring two brothers as running backs. It turned out later that the two were around 22 and 23 when they were a junior and a senior, respectively, and had served in the Army before returning to school. I can't remember whether the newspaper article quoted the coach as saying that he didn't know their ages or that he didn't know that this was not allowed, but I remember that whatever he said was not particularly credible.

 

[Roscablo]

That's the bizarre thing to me - an out of state exhibition game essentially, correct? Just seems absolutely insane. I don't assign much blame to the kid - teenagers can be kind of stupid anyway, and it's the job of the adults coaching the friggin' team to set proper boundaries and provide a good example.

Even though it's out of state, it still counts as a game. Just depends on how the state system handles it in terms of their rankings, seedings, etc. But if all of Missouri's teams make it any way, then yeah, really dumb. And if they are as good as they appear then it really doesn't matter anyway.

What's interesting is this is obviously a very media surrounded program. Just because they are in pads and helmets they really thought no one would notice? And I think it's come up, but what about when this remarkable freshman never carries the ball again? Just a crazy case all around.

 

[heyabbott]

The coach sounds like the victim in the interview.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

A freshman, really? They could've tried a little harder and said he was an Army brat who was in the Philippines (or wherever). They deserve their punishment just for being dumbasses.

 

[exmediahack]

I was thinking the same thing. But there is a "Marvin Burks" listed on their MaxPreps roster with some links to several highlight videos where he's playing safety. Both players are listed at 6-1, 175. So I'm a little confused if there is an actual Marvin Burks on the team and Jackson just assumed his identity for that game, or if they went to an even more absurd level to try and cover this up by creating a fake MaxPreps page for someone who doesn't exist.

Marvin Burks sounds like a made-up player name in a computer basketball game from 1988.