Terrence Jones recruiting: Deadline looms ... or does it?

Terrence Jones recruiting: Deadline looms ... or does it?



For more than a year, colleges throughout the country courted Jefferson senior Terrence Jones, hoping someday he would accept a basketball scholarship.

That day supposedly came April 30, when the McDonald's All-American publicly said he was going to Washington. His journey to Seattle got sidetracked shortly thereafter, though, when Jones talked to Kentucky coach John Calipari and decided he wasn't ready to commit to a college -- any college.

But a deadline approaches, and it is May 19, the final day of the NCAA's regular signing period for basketball. Jones' mother, Linda Mashia-Jones, said, "I'm pretty sure it's one or the other," meaning Washington or Kentucky.

Speaking late Monday night, Mashia-Jones said she was waiting for her son to come home. Efforts to reach Terrence Jones were unsuccessful.

"I need to remind him that May 19 is next week," she said.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Except here's the thing: Jones doesn't have to sign by May 19 to play college basketball next season.

If you think Jones' recruiting story is bizarre now, there are a few possibilities on the horizon that could add stranger chapters to this tale.

Once May 19 passes, Jones can no longer sign a letter of intent. But he can sign a financial aid agreement with a school, which can include a basketball scholarship. A financial aid agreement binds the school to the player, but the player is not obligated to the school.

In fact, a player in Jones' situation could accept a financial aid agreement and still get recruited by other schools. It's even possible, a media relations director at a Division I college confirmed, for a recruit to sign a financial aid agreement with multiple colleges and wait until school starts to pick one.

Mashia-Jones said she was not aware of a provision that allows her son to sign after May 19.

Athletes signing a financial aid agreement instead of a letter of intent are rare but not unprecedented. In 2008, Oregon signed junior college quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to a financial aid agreement on May 1, almost two months after the football signing period closed. Lance Stephenson, the leading scorer in New York high school history, accepted a financial aid agreement from Cincinnati last July, two months after the 2009 signing period ended.

It's also possible for an athlete to accept a financial aid agreement without signing a letter of intent during the regular signing period, which this year began April 14 and ends next Wednesday.

Such was the case with Brandon Knight, who did just that with Kentucky in April. Knight, nationally rated No. 4 in the class of 2010 by ESPNU, is free to leave for another school, but Kentucky is obligated to provide him with a full scholarship for the 2010-11 school year.

In theory, this option remains open to Jones if Kentucky or Washington were to offer it. Basketball players who sign during the early signing period in November don't have that option. They must sign a letter of intent.

Jones could also opt to skip college altogether and play basketball overseas. Mashia-Jones dismissed that idea, saying she has never discussed playing in Europe or anywhere else outside the United States with her son.

But it's an option. Two years ago, Brandon Jennings became a pioneer when he bailed on his letter of intent at Arizona to play what would have been his freshman year in Italy. Last year, Jeremy Tyler took it a step further, skipping his senior year of high school in San Diego to play in Israel.

Jefferson coach Pat Strickland said he and Jones talked last summer about Tyler's situation because Jones knew him well. But Strickland said Jones has never expressed an interest to skip college and play overseas.

"That would really surprise me," Strickland said. "He wants to go to college."

Until May 20, when the current quiet period of recruiting ends and recruiting rules become more restrictive, college coaches are prohibited from making in-person contact with a recruit or his or her parents. A coach may write or telephone a recruit or the parents during a quiet period, however.

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