April 21, 2009
The Continuing (Lack of) Education of Ole Miss DL Jerrell Powe...
Maybe you've never heard of Jerrell Powe before today. Maybe you never saw his name on a recruiting website, or in a game boxscore. Maybe you've never read about Jerrell Powe in a newspaper.
That's okay.
Because Jerrell Powe has evidently never read about himself in a newspaper, either.
Back in 2006, current Ole Miss DL Jerrell Powe's mother said during a legal deposition that, "Jerrell really is a good child, but he just can't read."
At the time, the talented young man was having eligibility issues that had LSU back off a commitment they initially accepted at the time. Ole Miss swooped in and former Ole Miss Coach Ed "Bay Bay" Orgeron eagerly accepted the mammoth manchild's...err...umm...X on his Letter of Intent on National Signing Day.
A sordid tale of NCAA Clearinghouse intrigue, stretching from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Oxford, Mississippi, with a stop in Utah for some BYU online correspondence courses ensued. His long & winding road to eligiblity finally ended when 2nd year Rebels Head Coach Houston Nutt announced that Powe had been cleared by the Clearninghouse after more than a two year odyssey through the vagaries of the United States Education System.
Things seemed to settle down after that for Jerrell. He started class. He started practicing. He got involved in the offseason program. He made his debut this past year, finishing with a few tackles for a loss, and even an interception. After being away from organized football for so long, it was thought heading into this year that Powe could make a big impact on the DL for Nutt's rapidly improving Rebel program.
In the words of notorious-yet-fictional gangster Hyman Roth, "Times were good, we made the most of it."
Then, this past Sunday, things got a little out of hand at a party that Powe was hosting at his apartment. So much out of hand that promising tailback Enrique Davis was arrested & placed into police custody after attempting to flee the police.
Powe was issued a nose ordinance violation.
On the surface, this may not be such a big deal. Sometimes, things like this happen. Lord knows they happen around any program Houston Dale Nutt is the head coach of. But, as I read this article...something jumped out at me.
Maybe its just me, though. Maybe I'm just a cold hearted, completely cynical, jaded, unbelievably biased outside observer on this one.
But, when Jerrell Powe was asked to sign his citation, "...Powe stated he could not read and would not sign..."
Am I the only one who found that a tad ironic?
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