Tide get Cloyd; status on other prep stars to change soon

Prep school graduate Verice Cloyd was notified Friday that a review of his academic qualifications is complete, meaning the NCAA has cleared the standout basketball prospect to compete for Alabama this season.

"The NCAA committee that is reviewing these players has validated Verice's academic qualifications," Cloyd's attorney, Don Jackson, told CBS SportsLine.com. "Everything is good."

As has been well-documented, the NCAA recently begun scrutinizing many prep schools -- including Cloyd's alma mater, Genesis One in Mississippi -- in its crackdown on so-called "diploma mills." And a two-page questionnaire sent to prep school graduates within the past six weeks had Jackson convinced the NCAA was "harassing" specific student-athletes and trying to keep them off the court as long as possible because it failed to meet its initial goal, which was to shutdown or ban many prep schools with questionable track records.

Jackson said the questionnaires were merely a delay tactic.

"That's what I think their goal is here, to stall, and delay clearing these student-athletes from these prep schools," Jackson had concluded. "That's what they're doing, and it's not right."

Now, Jackson said, everything is right. Cloyd has been cleared, and Jackson suspects many other prep school graduates will be similarly notified soon.

"Verice was kind of the poster child for all this, but the news (Friday) was good," Jackson said. "The young man is relieved."