Andre Drummond tells the story of how he became a Walk-On at UConn

[FlockOfLambs]

 

[Waquoit]

This story only has a happy ending for Andre.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Great video. It was reported at the time though that it was Michael Bradley's scholarship, not DeAndre's.

Report: Bradley to give up scholarship to pave way for Drummond

UConn has had to play musical scholarships before. But with NCAA and APR restrictions looming over the program, simply waiving little-used players to make room for the uber-prospect du jour isn't...

www.theuconnblog.com

 

[alexd]

"APR restrictions"... funny, does anybody even mention the APR anymore???

 

[Fishy]

That’s pretty great.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[Phoenixhusky]

Great story!!!!

 

[HooperScooper]

Great video. It was reported at the time though that it was Michael Bradley's scholarship, not DeAndre's.

Report: Bradley to give up scholarship to pave way for Drummond

UConn has had to play musical scholarships before. But with NCAA and APR restrictions looming over the program, simply waiving little-used players to make room for the uber-prospect du jour isn't...

www.theuconnblog.com

But then that changed in December. I posted this a few weeks ago on here:

My recollection is that later in the semester Drummond reversed course and gave his scholarship to Bradley and paid his own way. This article confirms it.

Andre Drummond is playing as a non-scholarship player at UConn this season, allowing Michael Bradley to keep his scholarship.

"[Bradley] worked hard to get that scholarship," Drummond told the New London Day, which was first to report the story on Tuesday night. "I'm not going to take something from somebody that's not mine."

UConn confirmed that Drummond relinquished his scholarship late in the fall semester.

Roughly halfway through the fall semester, UConn's compliance staff determined that it was within the rules for a recruited player to decline a scholarship and play as a walk-on. So the change was set in motion. Bradley was back on scholarship and Drummond officially became a walk-on.

"This was a complicated issue that took much of the semester to resolve," said UConn spokesman Kyle Muncy. "Once it was, Andre felt it was time to share."

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[BlueMAB]

The Boneyard, where Andre Drummond telling the story of how Andre Drummond landed at UConn as a walk-on is met with a link implying Andre Drummond doesn't know how he ended up at UConn as a walk-on.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

"APR restrictions"... funny, does anybody even mention the APR anymore???

What they’re talking about is not the retroactive APR violation that led to the banning in 2013. We were down 3 scholarships because of recruiting violations and plus APR.
In fact that special retroactive APR was concocted specifically because the NCAA thought we circumvented the original scholarship limitation in the Drummond case and they wanted to punish us.
It was very personal at that point.
My recollection it that Bradley giving up his scholarship was the original story but
We we told that it was Drummond who walked on. It was all behind the scenes . That’s always been the BY official understanding.
I don’t think Bradley transferred until the following year.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong

 

[Mike Honcho]

The Boneyard, where Andre Drummond telling the story of how Andre Drummond landed at UConn as a walk-on is met with a link implying Andre Drummond doesn't know how he ended up at UConn as a walk-on.

Cute. I was highlighting the inconsistency in reporting, though. That story was well documented at the time, so either the horde got it wrong or Andre is "misremembering" who was asked to vacate a scholarship. Considering Drummond is recounting a memory from 11 years ago, the second incident is plausible.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The Boneyard, where Andre Drummond telling the story of how Andre Drummond landed at UConn as a walk-on is met with a link implying Andre Drummond doesn't know how he ended up at UConn as a walk-on.

The quotes in the story is are literally from Drummond. He more than likely got some details wrong a decade later.

 

[8893]

So the poster whose name rhymes with “sheaf” was at the party with Alex Oriakhi?

 

[UConnJim]

The Boneyard, where Andre Drummond telling the story of how Andre Drummond landed at UConn as a walk-on is met with a link implying Andre Drummond doesn't know how he ended up at UConn as a walk-on.

I think both versions can be correct. Originally in August, Calhoun may have offered Drummond Daniels scholarship. With the controversies surrounding the #1 recruit walking on at UConn may have forced UConn at a later time to try and find a scholarship for Drummond and decided that was Bradley’s scholarship. Remember, Drummond said he had to go home initially until everything got sorted out. When they figured out it was OK for Drummond to walk on, they gave Bradley his scholarship back.

 

[BlueMAB]

Cute. I was highlighting the inconsistency in reporting, though. That story was well documented at the time, so either the horde got it wrong or Andre is "misremembering" who was asked to vacate a scholarship. Considering Drummond is recounting a memory from 11 years ago, the second incident is plausible.

Im sure you were only highlighting the media and that’s why you followed up with Malcolm Gladwell and suggested Drummond doesn’t remember what actually happened

But I’m sure he remembers tweeting about it, speaking to Ollie and Oriakhi, and then hearing from Calhoun (and remembering that he was camping) but not whose scholly it was. Even though he talked about how close he and Daniels were.

The quotes in the story is are literally from Drummond. He more than likely got some details wrong a decade later.

Or…you’re not paying attention to what he actually said.

See post #7 by @HooperScooper

Drummond never said they took Daniels’ scholly away. He said Calhoun offered to.

Obviously that never happened and it was well documented that it was Bradley.

The fact Daniels helped us win a national title while Bradley never made an impact further convinces me that Drummond’s memory is fine, Freakonomics notwithstanding.

Calhoun offered to pull the offer to Daniels. Drummond said no.

Compliance determined he couldn’t walk on, they pulled Bradley’s scholarship (for obvious reasons).

Compliance later determined he could walk on, and Bradley got his scholly back.

The horde didn’t necessarily get anything wrong. All of the above could be true.

I think both versions can be correct. Originally in August, Calhoun may have offered Drummond Daniels scholarship. With the controversies surrounding the #1 recruit walking on at UConn may have forced UConn at a later time to try and find a scholarship for Drummond and decided that was Bradley’s scholarship. Remember, Drummond said he had to go home initially until everything got sorted out. When they figured out it was OK for Drummond to walk on, they gave Bradley his scholarship back.

Bingo.

 

[Fishy]

The Boneyard, where Andre Drummond telling the story of how Andre Drummond landed at UConn as a walk-on is met with a link implying Andre Drummond doesn't know how he ended up at UConn as a walk-on.

Not to get in the way of you being an ass, but the Bradley story is true.

UConn was never going to take a scholarship away from DeAndre Daniels, but Bradley actually did give up his scholarship to Drummond when it looked like UConn compliance thought that Drummond walking on might be an issue.

Did a coach think out loud about asking Daniels to give up his scholarship? Probably, but it was not happening.

Bradley, who basically grew up as a ward of the state, would have been in line to get the most aid, although not a complete free ride, so he offered to give up his scholarship.

It wasn’t until UConn cleared the situation that Bradley’s status was restored and Drummond went on financial aid.

You can go back to the fall of that year and read quotes from Bradley and Drummond.

Also, how brilliant was it that the NCAA devised an academic penalty that was designed to keep a college scholarship from a couple of kids who grew up poor?

 

[BlueMAB]

Not to get in the way of you being an ass, but the Bradley story is true.

UConn was never going to take a scholarship away from DeAndre Daniels, but Bradley actually did give up his scholarship to Drummond when it looked like UConn compliance thought that Drummond walking on might be an issue.

Did a coach think out loud about asking Daniels to give up his scholarship? Probably, but it was not happening.

Bradley, who basically grew up as a ward of the state, would have been in line to get the most aid, although not a complete free ride, so he offered to give up his scholarship.

It wasn’t until UConn cleared the situation that Bradley’s status was restored and Drummond went on financial aid.

You can go back to the fall of that year and read quotes from Bradley and Drummond.

Also, how brilliant was it that the NCAA devised an academic penalty that was designed to keep a college scholarship from a couple of kids who grew up poor?

Pot meet kettle.

Drummond never said they took Daniels’ scholly away. He said Calhoun offered to.

Obviously that never happened and it was well documented that it was Bradley.

The fact Daniels helped us win a national title while Bradley never made an impact further convinces me that Drummond’s memory is fine, Freakonomics notwithstanding.

Calhoun offered to pull the offer to Daniels. Drummond said no.

Compliance determined he couldn’t walk on, they pulled Bradley’s scholarship (for obvious reasons).

Compliance later determined he could walk on, and Bradley got his scholly back.

The horde didn’t necessarily get anything wrong. All of the above could be true.

Thanks for repeating what I already posted while pretending to be educating me.

Maybe next time read the the rest of the thread.

 

[Mike Honcho]

The fact Daniels helped us win a national title while Bradley never made an impact further convinces me that Drummond’s memory is fine, Freakonomics notwithstanding.

Calhoun offered to pull the offer to Daniels. Drummond said no.

Daniels was a five-star recruit ranked 10th in his class by Rivals. You really think the coaching staff considered pulling the scholarship for a five-star recruit three months after he had committed and three days before the season were to begin?

I'm sure the prospect of making DeAndre pay his own way last minute would have sat well with future recruits. And of course, no other coach would have used that against us.

 

[KingLurk]

Factual inaccuracies or not, it's a great story. I wonder why he didn't just go to kentucky or duke or florida if they had a scholarship. Did his parents hover around him on campus to take care of him? I wasn't at UConn at that point so I don't know.

I thought it was funny I heard this link right as I drove by the fairground in Portland too.

 

[BlueMAB]

Daniels was a five-star recruit ranked 10th in his class by Rivals. You really think the coaching staff considered pulling the scholarship for a five-star recruit three months after he had committed and three days before the season were to begin?

I'm sure the prospect of making DeAndre pay his own way last minute would have sat well with future recruits. And of course, no other coach would have used that against us.

I think we have no reason to doubt Drummond’s story.

 

[coloradohusky]

This is one of my favorite sports stories. How adult and how much foresight did Andre have for such a young person? $20k that he didn't need to pay, but he did because it was the right thing to do. That's a good dude right there. Much respect. Even though he became rich beyond belief, he was under no obligation to take on the debt. How many people would do the same?