High School Sports

Bishop Sycamore head football coach Tyren Jackson, who replaced the fired Roy Johnson, said the program is "not a school" as the fallout continues from its nationally televised 58-0 loss to IMG Academy.

Jackson spoke to Jamie Ostroff of NBC4 Columbus and said, "We do not offer curriculum. We are not a school. That's not what Bishop Sycamore is, and I think that's what the biggest misconception about us was, and that was our fault. Because that was a mistake on paperwork."

Ostroff explained NBC4 investigated Bishop Sycamore, which was apparently a school based in the Columbus area with an elite football program, and found "no actual school building or curriculum associated" with it "even though it was identified by the state of Ohio as a 'non-charter, non-tax supported school' during the previous school year."

Jackson said he was unaware of what happened when Bishop Sycamore filed with the Ohio Department of Education in the past because it was before he was hired but explained it doesn't plan on filing paperwork for the current school year.

This comes after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he asked the Ohio Department of Education to investigate the situation.

"I don't have any problem cooperating, letting them know whatever they want to know and things of that nature," Jackson said. "That stuff should never had happened the way it happened. I'm willing to take responsibility for it and say that it was a mistake. It's something that shouldn't have been that way, and that's something that I have to address stepping into this role."

The road to this largely started when the game against IMG Academy did not live up to its hype as a showdown between two elite programs.

ESPN announcer Anish Shroff even said on Twitter that Bishop Sycamore "had no business being in that game" and was putting the players at risk:

That risk was even clearer when Ben Koo of Awful Announcing reported the team played two days prior.

ESPN released a statement on its decision to schedule the game with Paragon and broadcast it: "We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and handles the majority of our high school event scheduling. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward."

Teams that were scheduled to play Bishop Sycamore later this season canceled the games.

The Bishop Sycamore saga apparently has even more layers that are just being uncovered. 

The now-infamous high school program that misled ESPN into televising a matchup against top-ranked IMG Academy on Sunday—and subsequently lost 58-0 after playing its second game in three days—allegedly used invalid checks to pay for a hotel in Canton, Ohio where the contest was held.

Canton police confirmed to Lori Steineck of The Repository that the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Canton South reported receiving two invalid checks totaling $3,596 for 25 rooms. 

Local police are now investigating two people connected to the stay for passing bad checks or forgery. 

Canton Police said no one has been charged, though detectives have two listed suspects. The checks given to the hotel were linked to an account listed as Education Resources Group of New York, New York. 

The checks are just one of a few mounting issues the school faces. 

On Tuesday, Ohio governor Mike DeWine asked the state's department of education to investigate Bishop Sycamore's "compliance with Ohio law and to ensure the school is providing the educational opportunities Ohio students deserve."

Jason Frakes of the Louisville Courier Journal noted the school is not part of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and is listed by the state's department of education as a "non-chartered, non-tax supported school."

The football program—which reportedly told ESPN it had a number of elite prospects on its roster–fired head coach Roy Johnson following Sunday's loss to IMG Academy. Questions of player safety were further raised after it was uncovered the team played on Friday night before the IMG game. 

Now the Canton police are investigating whether or not the team tried to skip out on its hotel bill.

The saga of Bishop Sycamore High School has continued with two players speaking with Zion Olojede of Complex about the program's allegedly deplorable conditions and atmosphere.

The two players, who remained anonymous, spoke about numerous topics that included broken promises, lies, team fighting, lack of preparation, apartment evictions, poor or no medical assistance and malnourishment when they played for the team in 2020.

They also said that 20- to 21-year-old players were on the high school team, which was led by head coach Roy Johnson, who has since been fired.

"He's a liar. He's a thief. Probably the worst things," Player 2 said of Johnson.

When asked what the worst thing was that Johnson had done, Player 1 said the following:

I think it's selling false dreams. Like telling your players you're gonna have X, Y, Z, we're gonna fund this and that, and not having any of that provided for your kids. I don't know what program the schooling is with, but not making sure your kids are getting the proper education. It's cool to check in every once in a while to see how your kids are in school. We didn't even start till three months after the fact. So I'd say school, selling false dreams, and funding. I think that's the concept of lying, selling false dreams.

There were far more than broken promises on the list of alleged transgressions, with the food situation among them.

"Worse than prison food. I wouldn't feed it to my dog. I'll tell you this: They'll feed us tuna salad Sunday, then try to put it on a sandwich and give it to us on Wednesday," Player 2 said.

Personal health was a significant issue, especially for Player 1, who said he had to gut through the season hurt:

One other point I want to touch on: it's important for our safety, right? You should feel like your players are safe. The problem we had was we didn't have any athletic trainers. I got hurt early in the season and I ended up playing hurt the majority of the season because we didn't have any athletic trainers. It was like go outside, go get help with one of the assistant coaches in the pool or something. Even if we were playing back-to-back games, there's no time to recover from those games because we don't have any trainers.

The players also mentioned an incident where an unhoused man allegedly tried to steal Johnson's car. The man was caught in the act, and Johnson allegedly authorized his players to beat the man up.

"Yeah, they ganged up on him," Player 1 said. "I would’ve understood if he handled it himself, but the players were beating on the homeless man. I wasn't a part of it. The whole practice was cancelled because the homeless man got beat up."

Bishop Sycamore received notoriety after losing to IMG Academy 58-0 in a nationally televised game on ESPN. Questions soon emerged about the online-only charter school, including whether ESPN was duped into believing that the school had top-level recruits.

Anish Shroff of ESPN, who called play-by-play, provided these remarks with IMG up 30-0 in the second quarter (h/t Andrew Bucholtz of Awful Announcing):

Bishop Sycamore told us they had a number of Division I prospects on their roster, and to be frank, a lot of that, we could not verify. They did not show up in our database, they did not show up in the databases of other recruiting services. So, OK, that's what you're telling us, fine, that's how we take it in. From what we've seen so far, this is not a fair fight, and there's got to be a point where you're worried about health and safety.

Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports did a complete rundown of the situation, including the fact that Bishop Sycamore may not be a school at all:

The website makes no mention of classes or teachers or alumni or...pretty much anything you might expect from a real high school website.

Additionally, Bishop Sycamore was not listed as a charter school for 2021-22 by the Ohio Department of Education, according to USA Today Sports. It was listed as a 'non-chartered, non-tax supported school' last year by the Ohio Department of Education. The school chose to be non-chartered due to 'truly held religious beliefs.'

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Twitter on Tuesday that the state's department of education would "conduct an investigation into Bishop Sycamore to ensure compliance with Ohio law and to ensure the school is providing the educational opportunities Ohio students deserve."

The Ohio Department of Education will investigate Bishop Sycamore as the fallout from the school's controversial 58-0 loss to IMG Academy on Sunday continues.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced he asked the department to investigate "to ensure compliance with Ohio law and to ensure the school is providing the educational opportunities Ohio students deserve."

DeWine explained it is not clear whether Bishop Sycamore meets the necessary requirements under the state's law when it comes to the school's operations.

Bishop Sycamore founder Andre Peterson told Chris Bumbaca of USA Today that head football coach Roy Johnson was fired after the game.

The game was billed as a clash between two elite high school programs and was broadcast nationally on ESPN. IMG Academy had no trouble in the blowout victory, and announcer Anish Shroff questioned the safety and merits of the Bishop Sycamore program during the game after ESPN was told the team had multiple Division I prospects.

He also took to Twitter and said the team "had no business being in that game" and was putting the players at risk:

On Monday, Ben Koo of Awful Announcing reported that Bishop Sycamore also played on Friday night. 

ESPN, which worked with the company Paragon to schedule the game, released a statement on the situation as well: "We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and handles the majority of our high school event scheduling. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward."

Paragon president Rashid Ghazi told Koo that the game would have been canceled had his company known it was Bishop Sycamore's second game in three days.

As for the school itself, Jason Frakes of the Louisville Courier Journal provided additional details noting Bishop Sycamore is not part of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. What's more, the Ohio Department of Education does not list Bishop Sycamore as a charter school but instead a "non-chartered, non-tax supported school."

Frakes noted it was not clear if the school filed a required report stating it met Ohio's school operating standards that are in place even for non-chartered schools.

"The state lists Bishop Sycamore's mailing address as a post office box, and its 'physical address' as 3599 Chiller Lane in Columbus—the address of Resolute Athletic Complex, an indoor sports facility near Easton Town Center," Frakes wrote.

The school is now under investigation by the state.

Amid the fallout from Sunday's controversial high school football game against IMG Academy, Roy Johnson has been fired as Bishop Sycamore's head coach. 

Bishop Sycamore founder Andre Peterson told Chris Bumbaca of USA Today that Johnson was no longer with the program. 

Sunday's game on ESPN was supposed to be a showdown between two of elite high school programs in the country. 

Instead, IMG Academy cruised to an easy 58-0 victory. Anish Shroff, who called the game for the network, said on the air how Bishop Sycamore wound up getting on television. 

“Bishop Sycamore told us they had a number of Division I prospects on their roster,” Shroff said (h/t Jason Frakes of the Louisville Courier Journal). “To be frank, a lot of that we could not verify.”

Shroff also took to Twitter to address the situation in response to a fan comment: 

Per Chris Easterling of The Independent, Bishop Sycamore is "an online-only charter school, with the non-OHSAA-affiliated football program serving as its most public face."

Bishop Sycamore played a game on Friday night, against Sto-Rox High School in Pennsylvania, before taking on IMG two days later. 

ESPN said in a statement that Paragon, the company that finds the best high school football matchups and schedules them for the network, "will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward."

Per MaxPreps, Bishop Sycamore has lost eight straight games dating back to last year and was outscored 227-42 in six games during the 2020 season.    

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who now serves as the head coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, apologized in a statement after he was seen shoving and yelling at a player during a game against Independence on Friday:

“I want to address the incident on our sideline during Friday night’s game vs. Independence that has drawn a lot of attention. First and foremost, I take full responsibility as the head coach and leader of our team for not deescalating an emotional situation with one of our players, Beau Dawson. Beau is one of our finest student-athletes and embodies all the characteristics we are looking for in our Mustang players. Beau plays the game with the right kind of passion and is an inspiration to our other players.

During a moment of frustration in an attempt to get our team to play with more discipline, I unfairly singled Beau out. Somehow Beau Dawson has been portrayed publicly as the culprit in this situation, when in reality I should have been a better leader and shown greater wisdom and discernment in how I handled this incident. Overall, I could not be more proud of Beau and the rest of our team for how they handle the emotional nature of each game they compete in.”

Video of Dilfer grabbing Dawson by the jersey and shoving him backward while screaming in his face went viral over the weekend. It's unclear what happened in the lead-up to the outburst, which was widely criticized as being an inappropriate interaction.

Dawson is the son of former NFL kicker Phil Dawson.   

Lipscomb beat Independence 62-7 in its second game of the 2021 season.

After airing a one-sided high school football game that ended 58-0 on Sunday, ESPN said it was a mistake made by Paragon Marketing Group, via Jack Baer of Yahoo Sports:

We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and handles the majority of our high school event scheduling. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward.

While IMG Academy was worthy of inclusion on national television, Bishop Sycamore raised concerns after allegedly embellishing the skill of its football team before the blowout loss. 

"Bishop Sycamore told us they had a number of Division I prospects on their roster, and to be frank, a lot of that, we could not verify," ESPN's announcers said during the game (h/t Andrew Bucholtz of Awful Announcing). "They did not show up in our database, they did not show up in the databases of other recruiting services. ... From what we’ve seen so far, this is not a fair fight."

Bishop Sycamore director Andre Peterson discussed college offers made to his players with The Athletic's Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman.

“I try to defend when people who say, ‘Oh well, yeah, you lied about kids having Division I offers?’" Peterson said. "Well, I guess the best way for me to fight against that is having you sit down with us on signing day.”

The Ohio-based team also reportedly played another game on Friday, just two days before its game on ESPN.

Coach Roy Johnson told Staples and Wasserman that Bishop Sycamore typically fields two teams.

“We had a couple guys play a couple series in that one game to give them a look because we didn’t have practice that day. Normally, what we would have was practice Friday, walkthrough Saturday and played on Sunday. So instead of that, we had some series here and plays there with a couple things to work on for IMG.”

Per Staples and Wasserman, quarterback Trilian Harris played in both games during the three-game stretch.

President of Paragon Marketing Group Rashid Ghazi told Ben Koo of Awful Announcing that they would have canceled the game had they known Bishop Sycamore played earlier in the weekend. 

It created significant injury risk for the players beyond the one-sided battle on the field. The program reportedly first started last season and entered the game with an 0-8 record over two years.

Ghazi took full responsibility for the scheduling of the game when speaking to The Athletic.

“The vetting process and the issues with the matchup are 100 percent on Paragon,” Ghazi said, per Staples and Wasserman. “As the guy who founded the ESPN relationship and the president of the company, it’s really 100 percent on me.”

Bishop Sycamore is an online-only charter school that is not affiliated with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, per Chris Easterling of The Independent.

IMG Academy, meanwhile, earned a national championship with an 8-0 record in 2020 and has seven players ranked in the top 100 of the 2022 recruiting class, per 247Sports.   

Ohio State commit Quinn Ewers may enroll at the university a year early, thus forgoing his final year at Southlake Carroll, to take advantage of the NCAA's new guidelines on name, image and likeness.

Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel reported Ewers is already receiving endorsement offers that he's prohibited from accepting under Texas high school athletic rules. Because of that, the 5-star quarterback recruit is weighing his future.

"I don’t really know, I don’t have a final decision made quite yet," Ewers said. "I’m leaning toward leaving and going up to Ohio, just so I don’t have to deal with UIL stuff and can get comfortable with Ohio and Columbus and start to learn."

The Southlake, Texas, native is the No. 1 overall player in 247Sports' composite rankings for 2022. Thamel explained how he could potentially graduate from high school and become eligible to suit up for the Buckeyes in time to play in the 2021 season.

Getting Ewers one year earlier than expected would be a welcome surprise for OSU, which doesn't have a nailed-on starting quarterback following the departure of Justin Fields. Kyle McCord, C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller were all highly ranked recruits, but none has any meaningful experience at the college level.

Ewers might quickly vault ahead of the pack despite having not had a lot of time to learn the offense and build a rapport with his receivers.

The implications of his decision could also extend far beyond Columbus, Ohio.

Early enrollment is fairly common in college football, with Thamel noting Ewers was already looking toward a move to Ohio State in January. Him expediting the process could set a precedent for other blue-chip prep stars.

Defensive lineman and USC signee Korey Foreman sat atop 247Sports' composite rankings for 2021. Foreman hasn't played a snap for the Trojans yet, but Brett Greenberg of the Tuscaloosa News reported he already signed a deal with Rosenhaus Sports for NIL purposes.

Just as a higher frequency of college stars are sitting out bowl games with an eye toward the NFL draft, high school athletes could decide playing out a senior year simply isn't worth it if a nice windfall is within reach.

Bronny James had three opportunities to defend his father's high school court Saturday on Day 2 of The Battle: Summer Showcase in Akron, Ohio's St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.

Games are played at LeBron James Arena—where the Los Angeles Lakers star became a nationally recognized star in high school—with Bronny's Strive For Greatness U17 AAU team slated for three games Saturday.

In one of those contests, an overtime battle against Wildcat Select, James went off for 16 points with four three-pointers, while Virginia Cavaliers commit Isaac McKneely led the way with 20 points.

The 16-year-old James still has some time before he has to decide between playing college ball, going pro overseas or potentially joining the NBA G League, but it's clear he can already pack a gym.

Of course, it certainly helps when that gym has his family name on it.

Bronny James and the Strive for Greatness 17U team played Midwest Basketball Club on Day 1 of The Battle: Summer Showcase in Akron, Ohio's St. Vincent-St. Mary High School on Friday.

Justin Brantley, who works as a national recruiting director/analyst for SUVtv and called the game, broke down some more details:

Midwest Basketball Club led 53-39 at the half before hanging on for the two-point win.

Some highlights can be found below via SLAM:

Before the game, James warmed up with his father, four-time NBA MVP and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James.

He also put on a show in the dunk line.

The event took place at the elder James' alma mater, where he played before the Cleveland Cavaliers selected him first overall in the 2003 NBA draft.

The showcase is a three-day high school boys basketball event that features some Division I recruits, per George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon-Journal. They include Ohio State commit Bowen Hardman and Gabe Cupps, who has also been offered a scholarship by OSU.

As Brantley noted, Cupps led all scorers with 26 points for Midwest Basketball Club during the Friday night finale.

The Strive for Greatness 17U team will play Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET against C2K Elite Basketball and Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. All-Ohio Red.

Bryce James, Bronny's younger brother, is also taking part in the event with the Strive for Greatness 15U team. Per Ballislife.com, they won in blowout fashion over NEO Basketball on Friday.