After not enrolling for the Summer I term this past June, it was assumed that Brent Calloway would enroll in early July at the start of the Summer II term, but that plan has also fallen through. Per the Tuscaloosa News:
Calloway was hoping to enroll in UA's Summer II term, but another mix-up with one of his classes has prevented him from doing that, and he will have to wait until August before taking his first class at Alabama.
"Everything collapsed," Calloway said. "There was a bunch of mix-ups at my school. I didn't know which class I was supposed to take, and I didn't take that class. I graduated fine, but I just didn't know I was supposed to take that class. I took the class, but they said I finished it too fast, so I had to take another class. Now I have to take this class for the next four weeks."
It's almost even hard to grasp how this type of thing can happen. How can an in-state player who commits during his sophomore year of high school not have completed the courses required to enroll? It's one thing if the kid is just plain damn stupid and cannot pass the required classes, but that does not seem to be the case here. To the contrary, Calloway's issues are seemingly wholly administrative in nature, so basically it means that Calloway, his parents, his guardians, his coaches, and all other school administrators involved apparently could not complete the simple task of determining which classes needed to take to enroll at UA. You just can't help but wonder that if he hadn't wasted months manufacturing an absurd recruiting melodrama... well, nevermind.
For what it's worth, Calloway says once he passes this course he'll be headed to Tuscaloosa. Take it with a big grain of salt, but nevertheless:
"After I finish this class, I'm straight," he said. "I asked them today, 'Are you sure this is the last class I have to take? If I finish this class, am I going to get accepted?' They said if I go ahead and do it, I'll be straight."
Of course, based on his own admission, what he and those around him think doesn't matter because they clearly have no idea what in the hell is going on with his academic situation, otherwise we wouldn't have this problem in the first place, right? So, while it's nice to see that he is still optimistic, I wouldn't share in that optimism for the time being, and at this point I wouldn't overly count on Calloway until he actually arrives on campus and makes it through the NCAA Clearinghouse.
On the upside, at least, he has embraced the notion that we will probably be counting on him to some extent this year in the wake of the Dee Hart injury, but again he has to get here before any of that can come to fruition. Whether or not he is mentally ready to play is irrelevant if he spends the fall up at Scooba Tech or over in Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's military school. And even that uncertainty alone, notwithstanding the fact that he will have a much more difficult transition to the college game by enrolling late, will probably have the staff shuffling for alternatives at tailback just in case Calloway's academic situation falls through yet again. Given that, don't be surprised if someone like Blake Sims or Chris Jordan gets a look at tailback early in fall camp.