Bishop Sycamore High School Loses to IMG Academy 58-0. Did Bishop Sycamore (Yes) Scam ESPN Into Airing Football Game vol Last Chance U ( High School)

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A Former Bishop Sycamore Football Player Exposes the Dark Secrets of the Program
Zion Olojede

BYZION OLOJEDE
Follow Zion on Twitter @zbolojede.
Aug 30, 2021

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Bishop Sycamore Interview

Image via Getty
The story of Bishop Sycamore might be the craziest sports anecdote of 2021. An alleged “fake” high school from Columbus, Ohio, set the internet ablaze after the school fooled ESPN into airing one of its games against powerhouse IMG Academy by telling it it had several Division I athletes on its roster. ESPN announcers admitted on the broadcast that they couldn’t confirm that information, which seemed to be the first of many alleged lies told by Bishop Sycamore. Several issues like age concerns, playing two games in a span of three days, and even the team’s coach allegedly having an arrest record rose to the surface.
Not to mention, the school was known as COF Academy before getting shut down in 2018. Aaron Boyd, who claims to be the first-ever player recruited by Bishop Sycamore, has been exposing the dark secrets of Bishop Sycamore ever since he left.
“Everybody that knows me already knows this,” Boyd told Complex. “It’s just the fact now it’s on a greater scale, I have to say something.”
Indeed, Boyd had plenty to say. From the recruiting lies to the lack of education to the inhumane living conditions, he is exposing it all. We talked to the former Bishop Sycamore player about the other side of the program.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
So what years did you play there?
I played there my junior year of high school. I played there 2018-19 season. I was 15 going on 16.
Bishop Sycamore

Image via Aaron Boyd
How’d you find out about them?
Before they were Bishop Sycamore, they were COF Academy. They had these coaches come from COF. I was at an Adidas All-American camp and they came and recruited me.
But why did you go there? What appealed to you about that school?
At first, they had, like, brochures and a plan. N***a, they sent me books with, like, **** on how the school was supposed to look—blueprints and everything. They told us we was gonna be on Netflix; they recruited us telling us we were gonna be on a show. They told us we’re gonna be the IMG of the Midwest. They lied to me and my mama.
Bishop Sycamore

Image via Aaron Boyd
Was this a relocation for you?
Yeah. I had to move out of my city.
So when you got there, what was the campus like? Did they even have a building at the time?
There was no building. Aight, listen to this. This is the crazy ****. This what you wanna hear. I first moved out there, we were staying in a hotel in Delaware [Ohio]. We were staying there for, like, five months.
Five months?
Five months. Didn’t have no housing. All the players came to find out we never paid the hotel. [The school was] writing them bounced checks. The head coach of Bishop Sycamore wasn’t the head coach. He was, like, an athletic director. He was the n***a that was behind all of it. He was writing bounced checks for everything. For everything. We never paid for anything.
Bishop Sycamore

Image via Aaron Boyd
I saw that there allegedly was an arrest warrant for fraud charges, so that’s accurate to you?
Yeah, that’s accurate. I didn’t know what the warrant was for, but if it’s for writing bounced checks, that’s accurate. This man scammed a whole church. We had funding from a church—that’s how we were doing everything from the beginning.
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I heard that people have been writing stories, but why did it take so long to blow up? Why didn’t you say something?
Everybody that knows me already knows this. It’s just the fact now it’s on a greater scale, I have to say something. I got friends to this day that’s way older than me. Mind you, when I was there, I was 15—everybody else there was 19 and 20. I was the first person to ever get recruited for this school.
What did y’all do for education?
We didn’t go to school. We never went to school. I can’t lie—they tried once. They took us to a community library. One day. It was already October—the season was about to be over. It was like at this point, “Well, ****, I’m not going to school. Y’all haven’t put me through school this whole time.”
How accurate was the report that they’re bringing JUCO kids back to high school? That’s accurate?
Bruh, I don’t know about JUCO kids, but I tell you I was 15 and everybody else was 19 and 20. I got videos on my phone right now. Whatever you want to see, I got videos of. People sleeping on the floor. N***a, we didn’t have practice. We just went to games. You see how it said they played two games in three days—we really did that. We ain’t practice. We just went to games.
Was there any times y’all built team camaraderie before going on the field?
We all lived in a hotel together for five months. We all moved in in July, before the school started. From July to about mid-August, everybody thought it was legit because ****, we all just thought we were staying in a hotel because there was no school. We were going to practice at some nice-*** practice facility. We had 10 coaches—one coach for every position. From mid-August to mid-September, we had two coaches left and a team mom because everybody found out they wasn’t getting paid. There was one coach who stuck it out to the end because he had to. If he left, we would’ve had nobody.
So why didn’t you just bounce?
I left after my junior year. I went back to high school.
Is that what happened for most people?
Most people were already out of high school, so it didn’t really affect them. I know me and this other kid ended up at rival high schools. That **** ruined a lot of ****. It’s sad to see. I wouldn’t say all they players are JUCO. I know some kids that are seniors in high school and now their senior year is gone. That’s how it was for me. My junior year was taken away from me. Everything I did my junior year didn’t matter because I was on a fraudulent team.
Did you have to redo your classes when you got back to school?
Bruh, I had to come back and redo my whole junior year, and I had to do it in time so I could play football my senior year.
How’d your mom react?
I moved so far. My mom couldn’t watch over me. I was telling her I was going to school. I was telling her what they were telling me to tell her: “We gon’ start school next week, we gon’ start school next week.” After October, I lost all hope. That **** was sad.
What’s the craziest thing that happened while you were there?
There’s **** I could say, but I don’t really want to. N***a, for the last month and a half, we had about 35 players. We moved into these new houses. For that month and a half, we was all sleeping on the floor. We had to go rob Meijers, Krogers, Walmart because that’s the only way we can eat.
That’s crazy
It’s crazy, but I can think of **** that’s crazier than that. Sleeping on the floor and doing all that ****, that don’t get to me. N***as almost got stabbed in there. We had players from every borough of New York. Then we had players from inner-city Columbus. That’s where I’m from. Everything didn’t mix, especially with no supervision.
You put all those personalities together and it could boil up.
Yeah, and plus, at the end of the day, these n***as not high schoolers. They’re grown men, and they from New York. [Laughs.]
It’s crazy that this can happen in 2021.
It’s been happening for years—since 2018.

TLDR: Scam artist "coach" with an arrest warrant started a "school" to form a football team to play other football teams nationally for the money (or it would appear that's the motivation)

Said "school" got national powerhouse IMG Academy on the schedule and contacted ESPN to air the game, telling them they got hella D1 athletes on the roster

ESPN obliges, B.S High gets BLOWN OUT 58-0

This prompts more scrutiny from the sports world and general public

This school doesn't exist, there are no teachers, books, no building, no address, no website

Some of the players are former Junior College players and therefore ineligible for high school sports and in their 20s

B.S High had these boys and men living in a hotel for months and never paid for their room and they were having to steal from Wal Mart and Kroger to eat
 
The Official Bishop Sycamore thread huh

If the name didn’t sound so legit there would’ve been less people NOT doing their jobs and sniffing this out before it happened :lol:

Wait nah. I maintain this was a manufactured story to create a sports Fyrefest, it’s too ****ing weird.
 
C'mon bruh. You had time to prepare for interviews and this the best excuse you got??
 
I saw a few highlights of the game on YT. Not sure if those BS players ever played a down of organized football in their life.
 
I had a homeboy when he was down here was always trying to do the same but for basketball. Last I saw on #soc.med he did in fact get a Head coaching job at some Prep School in N.C and funny enough, got arrested for child trafficking. You hear that and you'd think OMG mans was running a child prostitution rink, nah somehow mans was coming upon mostly African kids and getting them a place to live (some with him) and into school and many onto D1. He actually beat his case too and was supposed to be going to make a documentary about it

The media at the time was tryna make it sound like my dude, we call him Blue name is Aries, was running a prostitution rink and some girl came up missing.

Dudr is 100% a scam artist, both by trade and at times he just overestimates his juice and cant deliver but he intended to ( like he was gonna get me on the And 1 tour back in its heyday. I go to Open Run and make it to the nights game on my own while he is with Springs and Alimoe smoking the weed, and this isnt on ESPN in front of 1000s at nba arenas, this was a local exhibition game he set up at the Colisuem and was gonna have Jonesy and Werm (both TeamFlightBrothers at the time) sleep on my couch when they were in town, WAY after the streetball thing hype died down and kats were doing these shows for 60 dollars and having to pay And 1 back to use their own streetball names. But yea Joe Po had already picked me and he pull up and told me he's gonna tell him to pick me I'm like fam I already made it and your boy Hot Sauce and White Chocolate was scared to play me 1 on 1.

But generally a good dude and intends well with the kids he brings over perhaps by questionable pretenses I guess, but they were making him and Brandy out to be monsters and later had to drop all charges


 






lol the State of Ohio just finally reached this conclusion officially yesterday after all their "investigating" and I am sure tax dollars spent

HBO Sports got a doc coming out w Michael Strahan and Kevin Hart and Rich Paul are producing one also
 
datznasty datznasty That website you posted, bishopsycamore.org, on Page 1

This is it now when you visit that link:

Screen Shot 2022-08-29 at 2.10.51 PM.png
 
Anybody watch it yet? Was finishing gemstones last night so didn’t get a chance to catch it
 
Anybody watch it yet? Was finishing gemstones last night so didn’t get a chance to catch it

Yeah. The coach was unhinged and a total scumbag. Wish those gentlemen had better guidance in their life to look into things before getting themselves involved.
 
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