I know that schools will accept players with not so great GPAs if a coach wants them - my own son is proof, although he was certainly better than 1.7, had good ACT scores, and was clearinghouse eligible. The kid that is being discussed is going to have a hard time getting numbers where they need to be for Clearinghouse. However, it's obvious that the coach was willing to gamble on the kid, so there may be things here we don't know. However, like topdogfan said, I have a hard time understanding a choice of a big school when a kid hasn't been a good HS student. Many kids will do better in college than they did in HS - but some do just the opposite.