Jarrett Lake could use a fresh start.
Just like any other Arkansas Razorbacks recruit, Lake gets to wipe his slate clean as he begins his SEC football career as a college freshman.
He might appreciate that opportunity more than most. Lake has a few memories from high school he’d prefer to forget.
Foremost among those is the ordeal he went through that cost him all of last season.
Lake, 6-2, 205 pounds, a multi-position athlete, had to sit out his senior season after an investigation into his transfer from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham,Va., to Jenks, Okla., two years ago revealed a violation that rendered him ineligible to compete.
The fallout was significant.
Lake had emerged as a major Division I prospect during his junior season, when Jenks went 12-2 and lost to Tulsa Union in the Class 6A state championship game. Jenks had to forfeit all its games from that season, and Coach Allan Trimble ultimately received a one-year suspension.
Lake sat out his senior year, but that didn’t seem to scare off most of the Division I schools that were interested in him. Then, just when it seemed he was back on track, his first choice, Oklahoma, wavered at the last minute with its scholarship offer.
Lake said Oklahoma coaches told him their apprehension stemmed from a discrepancy they found on his transcript, but Lake said he believes the Sooners were having second thoughts before that.
“OU thought I wasn’t goingto qualify,” Lake said. “They thought I was only taking one core class and five electives, but really I was taking five core classes and one elective. It was kind of my fault, with the communication between myself and Oklahoma.
“Then I talked to Arkansas, and they wanted me.”
Still, instability at home threatened to wreck his athletic career before it ever really started.
Lake’s mother, Tonya Lake, realized early during his teen years that she was unable to care for him in Stamford, Conn., so she sent him to live with an aunt, Claire Williams, in Durham, N.C. When Lake reached ninth grade, they enrolled him at Hargrave, where he spent the next two years and began to blossom as an athlete.
Unable to afford the private school, Lake and his aunt ended up moving to Oklahoma, where they had friends who had told them about Jenks’ reputation as a football powerhouse.
Lake eventually ended up moving in with Tyrone Lynn, a friend of the family, and his aunt returned to North Carolina, where she and her husband still owned a house. Lake soon established a close relationship with Lynn and his son, Gabe, who is now a cornerback at Oklahoma. Although Lake wasn’t legally adopted by the Lynns, he still refers to Tyrone as his father and Gabe as his brother.
Things were looking up for Lake. He turned in a strong junior season, catching 21 passes for 483 yards and 5 touchdowns. He was on the radar of numerous NCAA Division I schools, and he was poised for an even bigger senior season.
All that changed when it was discovered that his family had failed to go through the proper channels to get him enrolled at Jenks. That meant he had residency in the two states, North Carolina and Oklahoma, which was a violation of high school rules in Oklahoma.
Lake and Trimble were held responsible for the violation by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. Lake was ruled ineligible for the 2009 season, and Trimble was suspended from coaching for one year.
Lake said he accepts the blame for the mistakes, and harbors no ill will toward anyone. But now, he’s ready to start over again, at a new place and a new position.
The Razorbacks plan to move him to linebacker.
“He’s an extremely explosive athlete who could’ve played anywhere for us,” Calabrese said. “He’s just one of those special kids who could fit in anywhere.”Jarrett Lake glance POSITION Linebacker/wide receiver HIGH SCHOOL Jenks, Okla.
HEIGHT 6-2 WEIGHT 205 pounds 40-YARD DASH 4.5 seconds NOTEWORTHY Caught 21 passes for 483 yards and 5 touchdowns during his one year at Jenks.
Sports, Pages 13 on 07/24/2010