Did MSU's Agim Shabaj get a bum deal?

[Dryden]

First ...

Shabaj declared ineligible at Michigan State
July 10, 2005, 2:51 PM ET
Associated Press

EAST LANSING, Mich.-- Michigan State receiver Agim Shabaj will enter the NFL's supplemental draft after being declared ineligible for the 2005 season.

Shabaj, who would be a senior this season, was the Spartans' third-leading receiver in 2004 with 29 catches for 308 yards and one touchdown. He was the team's leading receiver in 2003 with 57 catches for 692 yards and five touchdowns.

Under Big Ten rules, academically ineligible athletes are not allowed to remain on scholarship.

Then ...

Michigan State receiver Shabaj to enter supplemental draft
Monday, 11 July 2005
Written by Next Level Sports

Michigan State receiver Agim Shabaj (ah-GEEM' shuh-BY') will enter the N-F-L supplemental draft. He had been expected to miss the 2005 season at MSU for being declared academically ineligible. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound wide receiver and kick returner plans to hold a workout for N-F-L teams Tuesday in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills.

Shabaj would have been a senior and was the Spartans' third-leading receiver in 2004 with 29 catches for 308 yards and one touchdown. He was the team's leading receiver in 2003.

Shabaj said he was declared ineligible after not writing his student I-D number on a chemistry final, causing a professor to discard the score. He said he was one credit shy of eligibility.

His status was confirmed by an MSU official last month.

Followed by (a column from Northwestern) ...

Random Thoughts: The Value of a Missing Student ID
Date: Jul 11, 2005
By Roy Lamberton Publisher, Purple Reign

The Big 10 lost one of its more prolific receivers last week, as Michigan State's Agim Shabaj was declared academically ineligible. Shabaj was one credit short because his student ID number was missing on a final exam. Coach Roy wonders if Shabaj's mistake should disqualify him from finishing his education ...

OK, I'm not one to favor bending rules for athletes ...

but forgetting your student ID number on a final exam should not force you to forfeit your athletic scholarship, probably the only reason why you are attending a college.

Instead of improving on his MSU receiving records, and probably his mind, Shabaj is headed for the uncertain world of the NFL, which chews up and spits out wide receivers like so much confetti.

And he's going to the NFL without a college degree, which, should he not make a team this year, could leave him spinning slowly in the wind.

NU had a player who left college early, Darnell Autry. He's still one of NU's top rushers, even without his senior year, but he's back on campus finishing his degree, 10 years after his class graduated.

He found that its a cold hard world out there without that piece of paper that says you know what you know. Autry is back at NU, learning more about his craft, learning theater with students who barely remember NU's #2 career rusher.

I also finished up at NU in my mid 20's after being out in the world - I know the value of that piece of paper. I think Darnell knows it too.

So I guess I'm just amazed that Michigan State would bounce a kid for failing to put a number on a paper that probably had his name on the top, but then MSU is a big university and it would be too much for a prof to look at his class list and make a phone call.

Yeah, doing that is probably a violation of some obscure rule somewhere, but its seems awfully petty when a kids' future is potentially on the line.

But then all bureaucracy can be petty, can't it.

If these reports are true, then I really feel bad for Shabaj. Someone at MSU must fear the wrath of the NCAA if cutting a kid loose is easier than helping the kid earn a credit by fixing an honest mistake on a test he took that he would have otherwise passed.

[VprHis]

Maybe I'm just jaded, but something smells here.

IF they're worried about the NCAA, they call the compliance officer or someone at NCAA and ask? And that if the NCAA shot them down... do you think for one minute that SOMEONE at MSU would be screaming bloody murder about the NCAA rejecting him?

This sounds too much like an excuse to save some face. Matching nameless exams to students is not a big deal, nor is it a special favor made for an athlete. It happens, it's not a big deal, and I can tell you that MSU's policy can be summed up as "If you can match it... go right ahead."

[tibor75]

Shabaj said he was declared ineligible after not writing his student I-D number on a chemistry final, causing a professor to discard the score. He said he was one credit shy of eligibility

While this may be the case, I'm certainly not going to believe it based on the word of a player who was too stupid to stay eligible. Yeah, he's got no incentive to lie...especially knowing that MSU can't release his academic record.

[Steve19]

I don't like speculating on student performance but this does sound a bit strange. Most universities take steps to audit who is taking an exam (to keep someone from taking a test for someone else), verify the attendance against a register during the exam, count the attendees, then count the examinations when these are collected. Finally, exam papers often are kept a minimum of two or three years, sometimes five years.

Students often forget to identify themselves on a paper and have to be identified by a process of elimination.

So, the MSU professor should have known exactly who the exam without a student ID number on would belong to. Also, there often is a place to put one's name (often glued to it can be folded over during the grading process to hide identity). So, did this guy forget to record both? If he did, were the procedures so sloppy that they couldn't identify the student? Knowing the consequences, why couldn't the professor go back and attempt to verify that the paper without a name belonged to this student?

Something doesn't add up.

[Naplesbuckeye]

Plus it is Michigan State which is one of the most leniant places for a sub par student to play Football. You would think that the academic advisors would be on top of all of their troubled student athletes.

[methomps]

Originally Posted by Steve19

I don't like speculating on student performance but this does sound a bit strange. Most universities take steps to audit who is taking an exam (to keep someone from taking a test for someone else), verify the attendance against a register during the exam, count the attendees, then count the examinations when these are collected. Finally, exam papers often are kept a minimum of two or three years, sometimes five years.

It has been my experience that 99% of exams don't have any of these steps, and I've never taken or heard of a test with all of these measures. It's too time-consuming.

[Taosman]

Originally Posted by Naplesbuckeye

Plus it is Michigan State which is one of the most leniant places for a sub par student to play Football. You would think that the academic advisors would be on top of all of their troubled student athletes.

Ditto!