Former Jones QB Daxx Garman’s eligibility problems follow him to Texas
Daxx Garman, the blue-chip quarterback who forced Jones to forfeit six games and miss the playoffs after he was ruled ineligible, has resurfaced at Southlake (Texas) Carroll.
And, according to this report by WFAA-TV in Dallas, so have the eligibility questions about him.
Garman has committed to Arizona — another Oklahoma-raised recruit lured to the desert by former Muskogee/OU fullback Seth Littrell, now an Arizona assistant under Mike Stoops. Whether he’ll ever play a down for Southlake Carroll, one of the most prestigious high school football programs in Texas or the nation, is now in question.
Garman was ruled ineligible last year by the OSSAA because his family did not fill out the proper paperwork after transferring from Carl Albert to Jones. According to Texas University Interscholastic League eligibility rules, out-of-state transfers are required to have been eligible in their previous state. They also prohibit students to transfer strictly for athletic purposes and require families to make a complete relocation that includes putting their former home on the market or sold.
According to WFAA, real estate records in Oklahoma show the Garmans’ family home in Choctaw wasn’t put up for sale until early August, the day a WFAA reporter interviewed a Southlake Carroll official to ask them about Garman’s move and eligibility.
A WFAA camera crew came to Oklahoma and photographed Garman’s father, Pat, apparently picking up mail at the home and hitching up a boat and heading to the lake. When the crew did an ambush interview of Garman’s father at a gas station, Pat Garman grew weary of questions about why he was still in Oklahoma and chest-passed a bag of ice at a WFAA cameraman.
Southlake Carroll athletic director Kevin Ozee said he contacted the OSSAA to inquire about Garman’s eligibility. He also said he had proof the family had put its former home up for sale last spring. But the WFAA report contradicted both claims and quotes OSSAA officials as saying they had not been contacted by Southlake Carroll.
The Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson will be writing on this topic for Thursday’s editions.
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Update: I just got a phone call from Scott Adams, an Oklahoma City attorney who represents the Garman family. He made a couple points and corrected a mistake in this blog and in Jenni Carlson’s column on NewsOK:
First, the correction:
University Interscholastic League transfer rules do not require a student to have been eligible in his/her previous state if the student met certain academic requirements. A full explanation can be found here:
http://www.uil.utexas.edu/policy/side_by_side.html
Adams also said the Garmans attempted to enroll Daxx at Carl Albert last January and were denied by the school.
Here’s the latest update from the WFAA reporter:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/Ruling-on-Southlake-QB-expected-Friday-101606543.html
Wow, do these Texas stations really have nothing better to do then ‘investigate’ a high school kid? I mean jeez, they followed the kids dad to Oklahoma, got house pictures, and it looks like there are pictures off his myspace. Find some real news Texas! Report real news instead of ruining kids careers!
Wow… I agree with Paula. Leave the Garman family alone let them live in peace. They aren’t harming anyone, if they chose to move that is their own business.
Not harming anyone!? On the surface it appears they are using their child as a pawn for a get rich scheme. Trying to get that almighty football scholarship with their focus on the NFL. This child has been in 4 different schools the past 4 years. What sane person does that to their child at a crucial age? Build a solid foundation with friends and home stability for them to grow on. I’m glad they were caught and I hope Daxx doesn’t pay to dearly for his parents stupidity.
Not harming anyone? What about the kids at Southlake who ARE following the rules? These rules are put in place for this very reason. Rules are rules. Looks like this family wouldn’t follow them in Oklahoma and they are trying to usurp them in Texas.
What a smear piece. The reporter to this story is just as bad as OSSAA. It’s non-athlete types like you people that hold so much jealousy inside you have no problem furthering the destruction of the early future of a great young talent.
Danke Mike Sherman für dieseninteresanten Artikel. Der hat dazu beigetragen dass ich diese Thematik nun sehr spannend finde.
As if it couldn’t be messier for Southlake Carroll, they play their season opener Thursday. The Dallas Morning News’ Matt Wixon posted a blog on Garman this morning here.
http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/08/southlake-carroll-quarterbacks-transfer.html