DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb school officials tell Channel 2 Action News they have no evidence that a high school coach illegally recruited two students to transfer to his school to play football.
The district does acknowledge neither student has played, because of questions about their academic records.
Diana Marshall, a player's mother, called Channel 2 Action News about this story, because she was unhappy her son was getting little playing time.
Her questions led to an internal investigation that produced some interesting findings about students who transferred to M.L.K. from hundreds of miles away.
There are also questions about where the two students live.
One student who transferred from Pennsylvania is living with a coach who claims to be a cousin of the student or his family.
The other student, who transferred from Canada, is living with a booster who doubles as the M.L.K. team photographer.
The head football coach at M.L.K. is Nicolas Kashama, known as Coach Nic.
Kashama is a native of Ontario, Canada, which made Channel 2's Richard Belcher wonder about that transfer student from Canada.
A quick search of the Internet turned up a story about the All-Kash Football Camp run by Kashama and three football-playing brothers in Ontario.
Marshall doesn't buy that it's a coincidence that a student from Canada would transfer to a DeKalb County high school football team where the coach is also from Canada.
"I'm here to let the taxpayers know how he tried to use their money to bring players from other countries to play on our football field," Marshall said.
According to the school district, Kashama denies any recruiting.
The district says whatever the questions about the two boys, their system worked.
The two transfers have practiced, but have not played.
The DeKalb County School District says 19 of 120 students who wanted to play football at M.L.K. were denied, because of incomplete records.