With the start of practice just a week away, SLU recruit Cody Ellis remains in Australia, waiting for clearance from the NCAA. Apparently there’s a class in there that’s not to the NCAA’s liking, and SLU has appealed the initial ruling.

“It’s the single most frustrating thing in my coaching career,” coach Rick Majerus said. “This hasn’t been a fair process to him.”

Though the fall semester is well on its way, Majerus said that there is still a chance Ellis can take part in the fall semester, that there is a cutoff date that hasn’t been reached yet.  “We haven’t ruled out the first semester yet and we won’t,” Majerus said. “We’re fighting it. I don’t want to put pressure on him by setting a date. There may be a time, but that time has not passed. It’s still a possibility.”

And, Majerus added, you don’t have to be enrolled to read a book or hire a tutor. “I have admiration for the family,” Majerus said. “His dad has literally — literally — spent hundreds of hours to navigate the paper trail nightmare the NCAA has imposed.”

Ellis, with his extensive international experience, would be an important factor on a very young team. With Paul Eckerle likely to miss the season with a knee injury, that leaves the team with nothing but freshmen and sophomores. (Though Eckerle didn’t figure to get much playing time.)

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Want to play for SLU? Majerus is looking for walk-ons and if you’re interested, or know someone who is, he’d love to hear from you. With Eckerle hurt and Ellis in Australia, SLU will start practice with just 10 players, which will make practice difficult if anyone gets hurt or has a class conflict.

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The first Billiken Club meeting of the year is Monday at 6 p.m. at Lorenzini’s in Chaifetz. The gathering is open to the public and food and drink will be available for purchase. And there’s free parking in the Weber lot behind Chaifetz. For more info, call 977-8180. Other meeting dates are Nov. 10, Jan. 5 and Feb. 15.

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The volleyball team, ranked 21st in the nation, plays George Washington on Friday at 7 and Charlotte on Sunday at 1 at Chaifetz Pavilion. SLU has won 19 straight A-10 matches.

At the same time on both days, the men’s soccer team will be in action, opening A-10 play against Richmond on Friday and then facing GW on Sunday. You can run back and forth between Hermann and Chaifetz. This is the crunch time for the men. At 5-4, they’ll likely have to win the A-10 tournament to get an NCAA berth, and the easiest way to win the tournament is to get a first-round bye, which requires you to finish first or second. The way the league shapes up, that’s not entirely out of the question.

The women’s soccer team is on the road, playing Xavier on Friday and league-leading Dayton on Sunday.