Unfulfilled Promise
The New York Times
A start-up football school called Christians of Faith, later known as Bishop Sycamore, recruited players from tough neighborhoods with talk of academic help and a path to glory. But the path only led them back to where they started.
Isiah Miller sat in his Bronx apartment, staring into his iPhone at what looked like a new world. On the video call, two fellow football players from his high school beckoned him to join them in Ohio on their powerhouse prep team.
Check out our hotel room, they told him. Look at our Xenith helmets and Adidas gear. Oh, and say hello to our roommates — maybe your future teammates? — who are also on the fast track to big-time college football.
“They said, ‘You want to come to your dream school, come here,’” recalled Miller, 22, who had just graduated from high school and needed to boost his grades if he hoped to play college football. “They said, ‘Come out here to Ohio, we play IMG,’” he recalled, referring to IMG Academy, the Florida prep school where some young athletes play on national TV and go on to win championships.
