4 Star HB Recruit Lipscomb Ruled Ineligible

Per Adam Rittenburg's Lunchtime Links today, the Pioneer Press is reporting that Hasan Lipscomb, a four star running back recruit out of Houston, Texas, and perhaps coach Tim Brewster's top player for his incoming 2009 class, did not qualify academically and will be enrolling in a junior college. According to his high school coach, Lipscomb still hopes to play at The U, but it won't be this season.

This is the second straight year that Brewster has lost arguably the top player in his recruiting class to academic issues, as QB MarQueis Gray had to sit last season because of grades. The good news of course is that Gray got eligible for the fall and well, as you may have noticed, we here at the blog have a wee bit of a man-crush on him. Still, there's no guarantee Lipscomb ever dons the maroon and gold, but let's hope he can get it together and be on campus for 2010.

To be honest, while it hurts to lose a player of Lipscomb's quality, it's not going to be a huge blow to the 2009 team, as the Gophers have plenty of returnees with some ability at running back: Duane Bennett was looking like an all-conference performer before he got hurt midway through last season, sophomore DeLeon Eskridge showed signs of promise last year, and redshirt freshman Kevin Whaley looked great in spring practice and in the Maroon and Gold scrimmage. Would it be nice to have a player as good as Lipscomb pushing the three guys in front of him? Yes, but it's not vital for the offense.

What's much more troubling to me is a mention further down in the story that top JUCO WR recruit Hayo Carpenter STILL hasn't gotten his a$$ in class yet for the summer. If Carpenter, who is the Gophs' likely number two receiver, doesn't qualify or doesn't get into school, his absence will be a much bigger problem for the Gopher offense than Lipscomb's. Here's hoping Carpenter enrolls soon and Lipscomb follows next year.