The Florida High School Athletic Association is investigating whether Miami Northwestern High School football team which is coached by former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater used an ineligible player.
The FHSAA stated that the alleged of having a fifth-year player was reported on Monday. Kelvin Richardson, the FHSAA Administrator of Public Relations, said that Northwestern answered the accusations on Tuesday. The FHSAA has but requested further details from the school.
”We have contacted the school,” commented Craig Damon, the FHSAA’s executive director. The only thing she said beyond that was:
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A transcript of a Northwestern football player was released by the USA Today Florida Network: the player, it was established, began his educational year in a Miami-Dade County public school in the fall of the previous year; this fall will mark his ninth semester of high school.
According to FHSAA Bylaw 9.5.1 any student –athlete is allowed 8 consecutive semesters of participation from the initial semester the students enters the ninth grade. Withdrawn from school as per FHSAA eligibility rules, after eight semesters a student becomes permanently ineligible.
The USA Today Florida Network is not naming the player for student privacy but said he left a Miami-Dade public school three days after starting his freshman year and then took virtual classes. Two officials from the Miami-Dade School District said that the transcript is genuine.
He or she would have been in eighth semester, which would have been the last semester of the student-athlete’s interscholastic eligibility- spring 2024.
No response was received after a message was left for Bridgewater.
Words like: Northwestern, rival, Miami Central, forfeit eight wins, illegible player the day the postseason brackets were announced. Central self-reported using a fifth-year player and was fined $900 by the FHSAA and ultimately did not qualify for the playoffs.
Richardson said in an email Thursday morning that there is no planned time frame to address this. It is uncertain when any subsequent penalties would begin if, in fact, Northwestern were to be found to be in violation of the rules.
Northwestern is now set up in Region 4-3A and thrashing Barron Collier 69-0 in the quarterfinal on Friday. The said player played in the Bulls’ victory over Barron Collier. The rules stated by the FHSAA would leave the BullsNeck would have to give back all victories where the player in question was involved; their win over the Cougars would no longer be a win.
The Bulls are billed for a match against Lely in the regional semis on Friday at the Traz Powell Stadium, Miami.
According to Lely head coach Ben Hammer, he was informed of the allegations against Northwestern on Monday.
“We have not considered any other scenarios,” Hammer stated. Currently we will be playing against Northwestern University in the regional semifinal match and we are aiming for that. Since last February, our kids have been preached to be process-oriented in the weight room, and it has sunk in.
It provides a conception that we will do what can be done for us while avoiding the things that cannot be done for us affecting us. We will be ready to produce the best product that we need to release on the field on Friday.”
Bridgewater in his first year as the head coach of the Bulls has had his team perform much better, with an 8-2 record and the team is ranked No.14 on the USA Today Florida Network Super 25 to end the regular season.
