LaMelo Ball is headed back to high school. The youngest of the Ball brothers has enrolled at Ohio prep school Spire Institute for what will be his senior season Customized Atlanta Falcons Jerseys , ending his ill-fated professional career after stops in Lithuania and on his father’s fledgling Junior Basketball League.Ball was introduced at Spire on Friday, being welcomed with a billboard in downtown Cleveland and speaking with reporters alongside his father at a press conference. The presser featured the typical bombastic quotes from LaVar Ball (“since LeBron left, I brought you a Ball boy”), but also included one newsworthy nugget: LaMelo wants to play college basketball next season.Ball was once committed to UCLA before dropping out of Chino Hills High School and turning pro. Back then, Ball was considered a five-star recruit by ESPN and was rated as one of the 10 best players in his class. On talent alone, he would certainly have a number of suitors if he was set to play college basketball next season.There’s only one problem: given everything that has transpired with LaMelo since dropping out of Chino Hills, the chances that the NCAA would actually deem him eligible to play college ball appear to be slim-to-none. Though the Ball family is claiming LaMelo never accepted any money during his time in Lithuania and on the JBL, there are still a number of things the NCAA is going to look into should a school decide recruiting him is worth the trouble.LaMelo Ball hired an agent In December 2017, shortly after he pulled LaMelo out of Chino Hills, LaVar Ball told ESPN his youngest son had hired 29-year-old agent Harrison Gaines. Gaines also represents Lonzo Ball and LiAngelo Ball. His only other client is former San Diego State star Jamaal Franklin, who plays in China.This should end Ball’s college eligibility on contact www.authenticsatlantafalcons.com , but recent NCAA rule changes might allow for the family to protest. A new rule, at the suggestion of Condoleezza Rice’s Commission on College Basketball, states that high school players may work with an agent provided they have been identified as “elite” by USA Basketball. There is a lot of gray area in that statement, most notably that the NCAA announced this before figuring out all the details with USA Basketball:Expect LaVar Ball to make a big deal about this if a school is serious about recruiting LaMelo.LaMelo Ball has a signature shoe When Big Baller Brand announced LaMelo Ball’s signature sure, the MB1, in August 2017, how it would impact his college eligibility immediately became a talking point. LaMelo was still committed to UCLA at the time, but his father didn’t seem too concerned with NCAA rules.This will depend on how the NCAA interrupts Big Baller Brand. Is the company considered a family business, or is this a player making money off his own image? Again, there’s gray area here, but the very prospect of this could scare schools off:LaMelo Ball played professionally in LithuaniaThe Balls can claim LaMelo never accepted money to play in Lithuania Atlanta Falcons T-Shirt , but he did sign a contact.At the time, there was speculation that the Ball brothers might not be getting paid anything at all. The Balls’ Lithuanian adventure ultimately turned out to be little more than a publicity stunt, but you can bet the NCAA will deeply investigate what actually went down while LaMelo was overseas. There is a ton of smoke surrounding Ball’s college eligibility, though there appears to be enough wiggle room at every stop along the way for his father to mount a loud, public protest in response to the NCAA.Of course, this all becomes a moot point if schools decide Ball isn’t worth the trouble. If that happens? Expect the Ball family to follow the original plan, and have LaMelo train for the 2020 NBA Draft.Falcons signing former Jaguars DT Michael Bennett; worked out Robert Ayers, Kony Ealy We’ve been tossing the Atlanta Falcons some criticism the last week or so for ignoring their best options to replenish the flood of injuries currently ravishing the defense. We even mentioned Robert Ayers last week as a potential fill-in for the injured Derrick Shelby. Apparently they kicked the tires on Ayers and others, but the injury to Grady Jarrett is pushing them to add another defensive tackle.This is bad news for Jarrett, who must be unlikely to play against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The signing suggests the coaching staff is worried he won’t play, or will be limited enough to make a roster move.Michael Bennett Atlanta Falcons Hats , the one that is not a multi-time Pro Bowl player, looks to have been depth for the Jacksonville Jaguars. As in he has barely played since being a 6th round pick in 2015. His most noteworthy moment was getting cut after Dante Fowler, Jr. returned from suspension earlier in September. He missed the entire 2016 season, and almost all of 2017 both due to injury. Also troublesome: he did not work out at the NFL combine due to injury. He was also injured at his Pro Day. He missed a lot of his sophomore college season due to... wait for it... injury.The interest in defensive ends is interesting. Ayers would be a solid rotational guy that could improve the leaky defensive line, and Kony Ealy is unquestionably bad but has flashed his pass rush skills at times that were mostly in the Super Bowl. It has been downhill from him since then, so I would probably not call him an upgrade at this point. Update: As expected, Jarrett is out likely for a few games. Falcons cut DT Justin Zimmer in a corresponding roster move.