Unlocking the Door to His Future
For Hoyas Recruit, Key Was Accepting Learning Disability

By Alan Goldenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 13, 2008

Chris Braswell knows he can't defeat public opinion. No matter what happens over the next five months, whether the 6-foot-8 Georgetown recruit either shows up on campus in the fall or returns to a prep school, Braswell is still going to feel skeptical eyes on him -- on the basketball court, in the classroom and in cyberspace.

The end of a curious high school career could come today for Braswell when he suits up for the Capital All-Stars in the Capital Classic at Comcast Center. The player once dubbed the Washington area's next great big man orally committed to the Hoyas in October 2006, but it's far from certain when he will suit up.

Braswell repeated the eighth grade at Andrew Jackson Middle School in Forestville. Then, he spent his freshman year at Suitland dogged by rumors of poor grades and attendance. He spent the next two years at DeMatha, but he missed the final six weeks of his second season there without any explanation. He's spending this year at Hargrave Military Academy, a landing spot for athletes hoping the strict environment will help them improve their grades and gain initial NCAA eligibility.

If Braswell can complete the class work this spring and summer to satisfy those eligibility requirements, and enroll at Georgetown in August, he expects the skeptics to say there is something fishy. If Braswell cannot, and has to return to Hargrave for all or part of the 2008-09 school year, he expects those people will say they knew it all along: Chris Braswell is a bad kid who can't do any schoolwork.

"People are running their mouths about me," Braswell said. "But they don't know what I'm going through."

A year ago, Braswell discovered he had a learning disability, which explains his childhood of academic struggles.

"This has been going on for three or four years," said Braswell's mother, Lesa. "He's frustrated because he sees the Internet and sees what people are talking about him. They talk about him not going to Georgetown, that he's not graduating this year."

Last April, the NCAA, seeking to prevent prospective student-athletes from attending fraudulent prep schools, or "diploma mills," changed the requirements for eligibility. Beginning with the high school senior class of 2008, students must complete 16 core courses, two more than previously required, 15 of which must be completed in their first four years after enrolling in high school.

There is, however, an exception to the rule: students with a previously diagnosed learning disability have no time limit to take courses prior to enrolling in college. Shortly after the rule was adopted, many saw obtaining a diagnosis of "LD" as a loophole.

"It's safe to say there has been an uptick in students who request" waivers for learning disabilities, said Kevin Lennon, the NCAA vice president for membership services. "When a student provides a diagnosis late in his high school career, especially after graduating, that's something we'll investigate. For the most part, you want students who are diagnosed with learning disabilities to receive it early."

Braswell never thought he had a disability. When he didn't do well, he promised to work harder. But the results never changed.

"When he fell into a hole, he didn't know how to handle it," DeMatha Coach Mike Jones said. Jones said Braswell's basketball skill always kept him from being held accountable in the classroom. When Braswell had to sit out two games in December 2005 for not completing his work, Jones said DeMatha personnel began persuading Braswell to get tested for a learning disability.

"He definitely did not want to get tested," Jones said. "It's your pride. You've got a lot of people telling you how great you are, and that you have nothing wrong. Then, somebody is telling you that you're missing something and it's something that you need. For a young man, that's not an easy thing to handle."

Indeed, Braswell resisted efforts to be tested at DeMatha.

"I told them I can't go through it," he said. "I didn't want them to make me stand out."

But Braswell didn't realize that his grades and class work were already conspicuous.

"Some things like reading, I'd read something and then forget it, so I had to read it over," said Braswell. "My teacher would do a math problem on the board in front of the whole class, but I'd need to learn it one-on-one."

Finally, after playing only 11 games his junior season at DeMatha, limited by his poor classroom performance, Braswell gave in. In March 2007, he went to a learning center in Temple Hills to get tested.

"I had nothing to lose," he said.

Said Keith Stevens, who has coached Braswell on the Triple Threat AAU team for four years: "He was scared. Me and Mike [Jones] had to point out that there's a lot of kids with learning disabilities. It's not to say that you're dumb."

Braswell said that the efforts of Jones and Stevens helped. After his learning disability was diagnosed, he said he felt relieved that he could get the necessary help in the classroom when he enrolled at Hargrave last fall.

"What has helped him really blossom is that we're a boarding school," Hargrave Coach Kevin Keatts said. "You may have 10 kids in a class, your assignments are due the next day, you can't go home after school and hang out with your buddies, and that's the kind of attention he needs."

Yet, the uncertainty about his academic future is what kept Braswell from signing his letter-of-intent with Georgetown, and locking up a scholarship slot for next fall. The five-week late-signing period begins Wednesday and he plans to sign next week.

Even if Braswell does not complete his coursework this spring, given his diagnosis, he could spend summer school and the fall semester at Hargrave, and still enroll at Georgetown in time for the second semester.

Either way, Braswell knows he will be scrutinized by the same eyes that have followed him for years.

"It will be tough if I have to continue with high school," Braswell said, "but people don't know what I have to go through. I just wish they'd understand."