Karviar Shepherd, the prized recruit of TCUs incoming basketball class, has been ruled ineligible by the NCAA because of academic issues related to his high school, Prime Prep Academy in Dallas, TCU coach Trent Johnson said.
Shepherd must go through an appeals process in an attempt to save his freshman year. His Prime Prep teammate, LSU signee Jordan Mickey, has also been ruled ineligible.
The players are non-qualifers, meaning they did not meet the academic requirements for Division I athletics. Non-qualifiers are ineligible for an athletic scholarship and are not allowed to practice or compete during their first year.
These kids are going to have to go through the NCAA so its all real premature, in terms of saying they are going to be ineligible for their first year and all that, Johnson said. To my knowledge, its in the NCAAs hands and theres an appeals process they are going to have to go through and thats pretty much it.
Shepherd, a 6-foot-9 center, ranked 77th in the Class of 2013 by ESPN Recruiting Nation, is on TCUs campus and has completed a summer school term, Johnson said.
Shepherd transferred to Prime Prep for his senior year, after his coach at Arlington Grace Prep moved to the charter school founded by ex-Dallas Cowboy Deion Sanders.
Shepherd played his first two years of high school basketball at DeSoto High School.
Prime Prep Academy announced in January that it had completed the process of meeting NCAA guidelines.
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