Penn State pulled back on South Jersey star's recruitment

Jamil Pollard, an Inquirer first-team all-South Jersey offensive lineman from West Deptford who made an oral commitment to Penn State this past spring, will now enter his senior season as an uncommitted recruit.

According to West Deptford coach Clyde Folsom, Penn State pulled the plug on his scholarship offer last month, citing that Pollard has not yet qualified academically.

"Penn State could get back in the picture, but they felt he hadn't made the progress they were looking for," Folsom said. "They didn't feel they could hold the scholarship."

Boston College, Rutgers, East Carolina and Temple are among the schools that are back in the mix, according to Folsom.

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound Pollard was a two-way tackle who had seven sacks on defense, but has been recruited as an offensive tackle.

Folsom says there are some schools that will wait up until June before pulling a scholarship offer from Pollard. That strategy paid off for Fordham, which had been recruiting recent West Deptford graduate Vaughn Scott.

In the end of June Scott, an Inquirer first-team all-South Jersey running back, found out he had qualified academically. Fordham offered him a scholarship that Scott recently accepted.