John Pelphrey's decision to take on BJ Young could be a risky one

I was all set to wax poetic about John Pelphrey's recruiting job over the weekend.

Pelphrey was able to land a commitment from talented 6'3" guard BJ Young, who sits at 25th on our consensus recruiting rankings list. Young is a big time scorer who excels when he has the ball in his hands and is able to slash to the rim. While his range must improve, he has a decent mid-range game. He's a scorer, but there is potential for him to be able to play the point.

BJ Young, a top 25 recruit with some baggage, has committed to Arkansas.
(photo credit: Louisville C-J)

Reading this, my mind started to race. When Young gets to Arkansas, he will be joining a team that already has Rotnei Clarke and Marshon Powell. If Pelphrey can manage to get two years with that core of players, along with anyone else he is able to recruit in that period of time, its impossible to say that things aren't looking up for the Arkansas program.

Then I saw this in Jeff Borzello's article at NBEBasketball:

He had zero offers prior to the spring, and has only played a half-season of high school basketball due to a transfer and academic troubles.

So I spent some time on google, and found this from Dave Telep:

Young hasn't played much high school basketball. Because of transfers and academics, he’s missed a good portion of his high school career.

I don't know BJ Young. I don't know all that much about him. Seeing as he made a meteoric rise since the spring, I'm probably not alone in that regard.

What I do know is that the Arkansas program has been in the news more for off-the-court issues than for on-the-court performance. The last few years, they have been plagued by suspensions -- academic and behavioral, highlighted by a rape allegation last summer and an accusation of academic scandal.

Like I said, I don't claim to know anything about Young. I'm not saying that he is a bad kid or that he is dumb or that he will cause trouble when he gets to Arkansas. But Young, clearly, is a risky pick up. Just look at what Will Barton went through this summer to be cleared at Memphis. Or what Josh Selby is currently going through. Or what Mike Anderson is going through, knowing he won't have Tony Mitchell this season.

Hopefully, knowing that he has a chance to get a free education will be a wake-up call for Young. We all make bad decisions when we are younger, and based on some of the quotes I have seen (When asked by Telep why he committed so early, Young said "I'm ready to focus on school and taking more visits would have hurt (my academics).") it appears as if Young is ready to buckle down and get himself eligible.

He has a year. A lot can be done in a year.

Pelphrey has worked hard to get his program's academics up to par. Their four-year APR rating was 888 after the 2009 season, but he got a bump to 933 (above the required 925) after 2010.

I'm not saying that Pelphrey shouldn't have gotten a commitment from Young. If he didn't, someone else would have; Young is a talented kid. But the risks involved, especially for a program that has had the off-the-court issues that Arkansas has had lately, needs to be noted.