The University of South Florida’s academic committee is now in its second year determining what recruits will be admitted into the university. To date there has been at least five recruits in USF’s highest profile sports – football and men’s basketball – that have been denied admission by the committee after they had signed letter of intents to USF.

The fact USF is requiring higher standards of its student-athletes are admirable. You can debate whether it’s a good thing that simply meeting the NCAA’s qualifying standard is no longer enough to get a recruit into USF. Good for academics, but tougher on the school’s on the field win-loss record.

What is not up for debate is how horrible the timing has been of when the incoming recruits are notified.

On Friday, Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy defensive tackle Khyri Thornton was told by USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales – don’t shoot him, he’s only the messenger – that Thornton couldn’t attend USF because he was denied admission by the academic committee.

Thornton was notified more than four months! after signing a binding letter-of-intent to attend USF and two weeks before Thornton was coming to Tampa to report to USF for summer school.

Something is really, really screwed up here.

I’m not pointing the blame at anyone in particular – the committee, USF’s coaches, the process in which recruits are approved, or the myriad of other factors involved – but blaming everyone. Yes, everyone needs to take part of the blame.

More importantly, USF needs to correct this from happening again.

And immediately.

Because you can bet every coach in America that’s recruiting against USF has already used the “if-you-sign-with-USF-there’s-no-guarantee-they’ll-admit-you-into-school card.”

Last year, Palm Beach Gardens offensive lineman Justin Green was notified the day before National Signing Day – the day before his 9:30 a.m. signing day press conference at his school – that he had been denied admission by USF’s academic committee. So Justin, how was your signing day press conference? Super. I got Punk’d by USF.

USF’s coaches spend countless months, weeks, days and hours continually working on and solidifying relationships with recruits. But then in one ill-timed swoop, a recruit can suddenly be told they can’t come to the school they signed with. Thornton said he wasn’t told of the committee by USF’s coaches until a month after signing with USF and even then, he said, he didn’t know exactly what the committee did or that it had the power to keep him from coming to USF.

Should USF be more upfront with recruits about the committee? Sure. Have they been? Probably. Maybe they were with Thornton, but he was led to believe he was good to go for USF until his cell phone rang Friday. (Hey Mom, do you still have the receipt for all these USF hats and shirts we bought last year?)

However this is happening, there has to be a better way – there better be a better way for USF’s sake – of determining whether recruits can or will be approved by the committee.

Are USF’s coaches gambling on recruits they know have a slim chance to get approved by the committee and getting burned by it? (Some coaches have told me if they even think a recruit might have to go before the committee, they’ll immediatley stop recruiting the individual. Some sports can afford to do that. Football, though, is not one of of them). Has the committee established unrealistic guidelines and/or timelines for the coaches that don’t provide enough time to fully determine if a recruit is USF-worthy? Perhaps.

I don’t have the answers. Unfortunately, neither does USF. But the school needs to figure out a solution that works. And fast.