Prep Notebook: King's scholarship pulled by Purdue

Fearful of the type of knee surgery performed on Armwood's A.J. King last year, Purdue University withdrew its scholarship offer to the senior wide receiver, Hawks coach Sean Callahan confirmed Monday.

According to Callahan, Purdue notified him it was pulling the offer in December during the Hawks' playoff run to the Class 4A state championship game. Callahan said the reason given was King had surgery to repair his torn knee ligament that is similar to four Purdue players who later re-injured their knees. One of those was former Plant quarterback Robert Marve.

The surgery, Callahan said, is one that uses the ligament of a cadaver, and he says Purdue is now leery of potential signees who have had this type of knee repair.

King, the Hawks' leading receiver in 2009, initially injured the knee in a preseason game against Middleton in late August. Despite wearing a custom-fitted brace, Callahan said the knee "shifted" when King went to make a cut running downfield in the first quarter against Wharton in late September.

After being notified by Purdue it was pulling the offer, Callahan said he met with Coach Danny Hope at Armwood. Hope eventually offered King a gray shirt scholarship, but Callahan said that was not fair to King, whom he says "did everything the school told him to do" during rehabilitation of the injured knee. King also took an official visit to Purdue in early December, when Callahan said coaches continued to express their desire to sign him to a full scholarship.

Callahan said he is so upset with how Purdue has treated King, he has banned the Boilermakers indefinitely from recruiting on the campus of the two-time state champion Hawks.

"They flew A.J. up there to Purdue, everybody wowed him, told him they loved him and all that," Callahan said. "Then, after he came home, they pulled him, without ever talking to our doctors, without ever talking to our trainers.

"It's completely unprofessional. In all my years as a coach, I've never, ever seen something done to a kid like this."

Football

Scott Schmitz, who started the Mitchell program in 1999, will return to the sidelines after a two-year absence.

After compiling a 36-66 record at Mitchell, Schmitz resigned following the 2008 season and was replaced by Brian Wachtel. But Wachtel was dismissed in December and was hired as coach at Land O' Lakes last week.

Schmitz, 55, took the Mustangs to the playoff three times (2002-04) but lost in the region quarterfinal each time.

•Blake senior defensive end Centrell Austin verbally committed to Division II Miles College, a historically black college in Alabama, Blake coach Harry Hubbard said. Austin finished the 2010 season with 44 tackles and six sacks.

Following a weekend visit to the University of Buffalo, Robinson cornerback Marqus Baker verbally committed.

Baker had offers from Charleston Southern and Youngstown State but selected the Bulls, Knights assistant coach Shawn Taylor said. The Division I program competes in the Mid-American Conference.

Last season, Baker led Robinson with nine passes defensed. He also had two interceptions, 58 tackles and 178 rushing yards.

•Matt Kitchie is out before he ever got started as Hillsborough's offensive coordinator.

Hillsborough athletic director Bertha Baker said once the school learned of Kitchie's hire by Terriers coach Earl Garcia, she discussed it with Hillsborough principal William Orr and county athletic director Lanness Robinson. After that discussion, Baker said they decided Kitchie, "would not be a good fit for Hillsborough High School."

•Hillsborough linebacker/fullback Rodney Williams, who last spring transferred from Spoto to Hillsborough for his senior season of football, has gone back to Spoto for his final semester, Garcia confirmed.

Volleyball

Following an investigation into its state championship volleyball program by the FHSAA, East Lake was ordered to pay $11,250 for violations committed during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years and an additional $1,125 in investigative fees to the FHSAA.

In addition, the program will forfeit any games in which ineligible student-athletes participated, and the program was placed on administrative probation until June 1, 2012. The FHSAA ruled an undisclosed number of athletes ineligible for the 2009-2010 school year for enrolling at the school for the sole purpose of athletics. According to the report, the school was not ordered to forfeit its state title.

East Lake won the Class 5A state volleyball championship in November.

Bill Ward, Nick Williams, Rick Harmon, Katherine Smith