Omaha World-Herald: Jays land star juco recruit
This entry was posted on 12/30/2007 8:26 AM and is filed under Boys Basketball News, Boys Youth Basketball.
From Omaha World-Herald
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BY STEVEN PIVOVAR WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
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Men's Basketball: Jays land star juco recruit
Creighton has received a commitment from 6-foot-6 junior college forward Tom Whitehead, a person with knowledge of the situation told The World-Herald on Tuesday night.
Whitehead will enroll at Creighton next month, practice with the team during the second semester and be eligible next season. He will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Whitehead played last season at Yavapai Junior College in Prescott, Ariz. He averaged 22 points and eight rebounds a game, earning the Arizona Community Colleges Athletic Conference freshman of the year award as well as being named first-team all-conference.
Whitehead, from St. George, Utah, originally graduated from high school in 2003 but was declared a non-qualifier by the NCAA because he was one science credit short of qualifying for an athletic scholarship, according to the Dixie (Utah) Weekly.
As a non-qualifer, Whitehead had to enroll at a junior college and receive an associate's degree before becoming eligible. First, he went on a two-year Mormon mission, then enrolled at Yavapai. His play last season attracted the attention of a number of schools, including Kansas and Louisiana Tech, and Whitehead graduated from Yavapai last summer by taking extra course work each semester.
He ran into another complication as an NCAA rule states that non-qualifiers need to attend junior college for three semesters to become eligible. Whitehead appealed to the NCAA and was granted an exemption.
"The basis of the appeal was strictly educational," Whitehead told the Dixie Weekly. "If I did go back, I'd basically be spinning my wheels for a year and wasting my educational time."
By the time the exemption was granted, fall classes had started. In addition to Creighton, Whitehead told the Salt Lake Tribune that Miami (Florida), Colorado State, Weber State, Southern Utah, Northern Arizona and Boise State were among schools that offered scholarships during the fall.
He told the Tribune that he picked Creighton because he likes coach Dana Altman and because the school had played in the NCAA tournament seven of the past nine seasons.
"Creighton was just the best fit for me," Whitehead said.
