High School Coach: NCAA Thinks VT Freshman's ACT Score Too High So He Hasn't Been Cleared Yet

Nolley's high school coach said the freshman had the ACT score and high school GPA to meet NCAA requirements, but the NCAA was skeptical of his ACT score.

Virginia Tech freshman forward Landers Nolley hasn't been cleared by the NCAA, coach Buzz Williams said of why he hasn't played yet.

Nolley's high school coach Rory Welsh of Langston Hughes High School in Fairburn, Georgia, toldThe Roanoke Times the issue involves Nolley's high school ACT score.

Welsh said that while Nolley had the ACT score and high school GPA to meet NCAA requirements, the NCAA was skeptical of his ACT score. According to the Times, Welsh said the NCAA thinks its too high a score for the typical student with his GPA.

"He did extremely well [on the ACT]," Welsh told the Times. "He’s a very intelligent kid. He really has the natural ability to be an honor student. The type of focus [he had] his last year of high school, if he would’ve had that type of focus his freshman year and his sophomore year, he probably would end up being an Ivy League-type guy, because he has that type of intelligence level.

"So they’re making him basically retake the test, simply because he did very well on it, which I thought was utterly stupid.

"Since he’s been enrolled at Virginia Tech … he’s on track to make the honor roll for his first semester."

According to Welsh, he took the ACT again last week and now it's a waiting game. 

Nolley was named Georgia's high school basketball player of the year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and USA Today. He was the No. 67 player in 2018's recruiting class, according to 247Sports.