Georgia Recruiting 2012: Immigration Policy Costs the Bulldogs a Recruit

A new Georgia Board of Regents Policy that was recently adopted in October of 2010 may prevent one of the Bulldogs' top prospects from becoming a member of the university. The rule was set in place to prevent a student that is undocumented from being admitted to the school over a student who is a legal resident if there happened to be capacity constraints.

The rule reads as follows:

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A person who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible for admission to any University System institution which, for the two most recent academic years, did not admit all academically qualified applicants (except for cases in which applicants were rejected for non-academic reasons).

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The player that this rule is effecting is offensive lineman Chester Brown, and he's a 3-star player on most recruiting sites. He actually had committed to the university back in July of last year and was so excited about becoming a member of the Bulldogs that he tattooed the date of his commitment onto his arm.

Brown is the son of Samoan immigrants who came to this country decades ago. Brown was born in the United States, but he likely does not have the correct documentation.

This rule came about after Jessica Colotl, a student at Kennesaw State, was found to be in the country illegally. She was an undocumented Georgia resident and therefore she was incorrectly attending the school on in-state tuition. She was put in jail and nearly deported back to Mexico before she was later allowed to return to school.

Brown and his parents are desperately working with the university to try and allow him to be able to accept the scholarship offer. Until then, the 3-star player would like Bulldog fans to know that not being able to suit up in a Georgia uniform was not a decision he wanted to make.

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Due to personal reasons that I just don't feel like putting out there, I have to part ways with UGA. Words can not explain how much love I have for Georgia, but I want everyone to know that this is for personal reasons.

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Brown is also opening back up the recruiting process and will be locking at other schools that have extended offers.

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I want to open up and I have some great prospects with schools like UCF, Tulane, Syracuse, and big colleges like that. Miami and those other colleges are supposed to be coming by. My coaches also say TCU is interested.

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Hopefully this situation gets cleared up quickly and Brown will be able to return to the school he felt most comfortable with.

"It's a little bit stressful because I felt like Georgia was my home," he said. "Things didn't work out. That's why I committed early, because I didn't want [late recruiting attention] to come upon me now."

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]