Report: Texas TE Devonaire Clarington's clearance held up by ACT score

The odd, ongoing saga of Texas Longhorns tight end signee Devonaire Clarington and his hopes of receiving clearance from the NCAA and the school now reportedly hinges around his ACT score, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Last week, head coach Charlie Strong made it sound like the hold up was with the NCAA.

"Clarington still has some work to do," he said. "Those guys we expect to be here at any time. They still just have some work to be done. We're waiting for the NCAA to get them cleared. Once they get cleared, we'll know exactly where we are, where we stand."

However, the Miami product told the Austin American-Statesman that the NCAA received his paperwork a month ago, suggesting that the governing body didn't make a decision during that time.

And then the major twists on Friday -- the Statesman reported, through a source, that the NCAA actually cleared Clarington shortly after receiving his paperwork, but that the hold up was on the Texas side.

Why would Texas deny Clarington his clearance to play after the NCAA declared him eligible?

Because his ACT score of 26 raised suspicion as being out of line with his other academic scores. So there's now reportedly a review by ACT administrators of Clarington's results.

To provide some context for that result, the average at Texas for students admitted is 29, but the average composite score for Florida students is only 19.6, and Clarington allegedly experienced academic issues early in high school that put his eventual eligibility into significant question.

What doesn't make sense about the reporting from the Statesman is that if seems unlikely that the NCAA would clear Clarington if his ACT score was flagged as questionable. And, in fact, Orangebloods is now reporting that the NCAA has not cleared Clarington, likely as a result of the apparent review of his ACT score, a scenario that doesn't create the same cognitive dissonance as the NCAA clearing Clarington despite the apparently outlying ACT results.

Still, the Statesman is standing by its report that the NCAA is reviewing Clarington's ACT score after clearing him, with Texas opting not to allow Clarington to practice until the completion of that review.

Get all that?

It's certainly confusing, but the bottom line is that there are probably a few more twists and turns left before there's any resolution for Clarington and the Longhorns.