Northwestern wide receiver recruit Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen has been ruled ineligible for his senior season of high school after being reclassified for completing too many academic credits.
According to The Detroit News, the Michigan High School Athletic Association ruled that Yaseen, who was home-schooled before enrolling at Walled Lake High School, had completed too many credits above his grade level. The MHSAA's new classification for Yaseen shows him having completed his eligibility.
Walled Lake High School is appealing the decision for a second time.
"The appeal was denied and I wrote an appeal saying he's a 17-year-old kid, age appropriate," said Khalid Yaseen, Abdur-Rahmaan's father. "There was an error that happened on a registration form years ago that placed him above his grade level for home schooling. That followed him through his education.
"We put him in ninth grade at Walled Lake Western. Later in the school year, they requested academic history and said they saw he had a ninth grade transcript from this online virtual academy. They tried to put him in 10th grade and we had him put back to where he was before and it was a big mess in scheduling. He took some 10th grade classes that year, some ninth grade classes as a sophomore, so it has been a mess."
"So when he came in as a freshman, they counted him as a sophomore, and then they changed it, but never said anything," Walled Lake coach Alex Grignon told The Detroit News. "Well, they treated it as him getting held back and not fixing his grade, so his high school clock started the year before high school."
Waseen is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound wide receiver rated by ESPN as a four-star prospect and the No. 7-ranked player in the state. Even if he cannot play this fall, he's set to sign with Northwestern in December and will enroll for winter quarter in January at the university. NCAA rules prevent Northwestern from commenting on unsigned prospects.
Walled Lake High opens its season Aug. 29.
"I talked to Northwestern [Thursday], they said, 'Hey, we've got his back, 100 percent. It's fine with us, it's just unfortunate he doesn't get to play this fall, doesn't get to experience his senior year,'" Grignon told The News.
ESPN's Tom VanHaaren contributed to this report.