re: Josh Malone has signed his financial papers to Tennessee

quote:

---

The news of Josh Malone having signed the new NCAA grant-in-aid papers that force a school to guarantee its verbal scholarship offer was not a great surprise on Thursday. VolQuest.com had been aware the Malone family had looked into the early signing option in-depth. But the family had strongly expressed a desire to keep that information quiet in order to help Josh, who has never sought attention, maintain a more manageable handle on the situation. So what's it mean? Well, Malone has signed the papers with Tennessee and could sign them with others. He's in possession of papers from at least one other member of his group of finalists. The upside for the papers rests always with the prospect. Yes, it allows schools who hold signed papers to escape the NCAA's contact restrictions but it's a boost for prospects who are guaranteed a scholarship but not bound to any one signature. Malone still will visit Clemson officially, and the timeline remains that Malone will officially declare his choice Dec. 4. Now, the fallout from Thursday's events seemed to center particularly on one school: FSU. Every source contacted by VolQuest.com pointed the leak at Tallahassee.

---