Recruit's status heads for review by Pac-10.

Byline: ROB MOSELEY The Register-Guard

The collegiate future of junior college running back J.J. Arrington, who said Thursday he signed a letter of intent to play at Oregon the day before, seems to be in question for at least the next few days.

Arrington said Friday that he had changed his mind and instead committed orally to California, with the blessing of the UO coaching staff, despite the signed letter of intent.

Although the university is unable to comment on specific recruits, an Oregon administrator said Friday afternoon that the Ducks have appealed to the Pac-10 to investigate the validity of a signed letter of intent.

That would infer the involvement of a junior college player, because prep recruits are unable to sign until national letter of intent day, which is Feb. 5. However, there is a mid-year junior college transfer signing period, specific to football, that began at 7 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2002 and continued through Jan. 15, ending at midnight.

On Friday, a coach at Arrington's junior college confirmed an apparent controversy involving Arrington's letter of intent with Oregon.

According to Robert Dos Remedios, strength coach at College of the Canyons in Valencia, Calif., Arrington reiterated a previous oral commitment to Cal coach Jeff Tedford - the former UO offensive coordinator - Wednesday evening.

Later that night - the last night of the mid-year JC transfer signing period - Arrington was visited by Oregon running backs coach Gary Campbell. Arrington said Thursday that he signed a letter of intent with the Ducks after Campbell's visit.

But Dos Remedios said Arrington's call to Tedford took place so late in the evening that it caused Tedford to question whether Campbell's visit and the subsequent signing could have taken place before the midnight deadline.

"The last I heard was that the kid had signed a letter, but when coach Tedford talked to J.J., it came out that he signed after the (deadline)," Dos Remedios said.

Dos Remedios played football at California in 1987 and 1988. He was also offensive line coach at Glendale (Ariz.) Community College when the team's starting quarterback was Eric Kiesau, the former UO teamwork coordinator who is now coaching receivers at Cal and who is recruiting Arrington for the Golden Bears.

Dos Remedios said Arrington admitted to him Friday that the letter of intent was signed after midnight. According to Dos Remedios, Arrington admitted the same to Tedford, who called UO coach Mike Bellotti about the matter.

"Obviously the kid knew it was after 12 when he signed the thing," Dos Remedios said. "I don't think anybody questioned the timing."

Arrington - who told The Register-Guard on Thursday that he had signed with Oregon - refused Friday to provide any details about the events of Wednesday night, specifically regarding when he last talked to Tedford, when Campbell visited and what time his letter was signed.

He did confirm, however, his decision to make an oral commitment to the Golden Bears and sign with Cal on Feb. 5.

"I'll probably end up going to Cal right now," Arrington said.

Arrington did say that he told the Oregon staff sometime Thursday of his decision to renege on his letter of intent in order to sign with Cal, and that despite the signed letter, Campbell told Arrington "he's not going to hold it against me, (even though) they got the letter," the player said.

Regarding the controversy surrounding his letter, Arrington said "I'm not going to get into all that." He did add that as far as his recruiting process is concerned, "It's over, I'm done."

That may be in question, however.

Oregon officials are unable to comment on specific recruits until a valid letter of intent has been signed. But UO assistant director of compliance Bill Clever said the Ducks are currently working with the conference regarding a signee.

"We have referred one of our recent signees to the Pac-10 to determine the validity of a national letter of intent," Clever said Friday.

Though the validity of the letter has been called into question due to "multiple issues," Clever said, the outcome of the Pac-10's investigation - which Clever hopes will be resolved within a week - will involve one of two scenarios.

"It's as simple as whether or not the national letter of intent is valid or void," Clever said. "The outcome of that would naturally be whether or not the prospect is bound to the institution, or free to be recruited."

If the letter is ruled invalid, the player in question is free to sign with any school on Feb. 5. If the letter is indeed valid, however, there are a couple of possible outcomes, beyond the player simply staying at Oregon.

The first is a qualified release agreement, in which the institution and the prospect agree the player should not be bound by the letter, Clever said. In that case, the prospect must sit out a year and forfeit a year of eligibility.

"In the case of a freshman, that's one thing," Clever said. "But in the case of a junior college player, that's half of his eligibility in most cases."

In the other scenario, the player could chose not to enroll full-time as a student at any institution, then request that Oregon not put him on scholarship in the fall of 2004. However, since a junior college player's athletic "clock" starts when he begins playing JC football, he would sacrifice a year of eligibility by sitting out a year.

Arrington will have three years in which to play two after transferring, and would thus have two to play two if his letter with Oregon was valid but the two agreed to a qualified release agreement, or if he didn't enroll full-time in the fall.

According to Dos Remedios, neither of those scenarios will come into play, however.

"The last conversation I had with Cal was that it was over," Dos Remedios said. `Oregon said, `He's going to your place, that's fine.' '

But, Dos Remedios said, the prospect of such a concession by Oregon raised a red flag.

"You wouldn't give up on a kid if he had signed at your place legitimately," he said.