The Bishop Sycamore Centurions were an American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. They purported to be the high school football team of Bishop Sycamore High School. The high school was advertised as an athletic sports training academy; however, after a blowout loss to IMG Academy that was televised on ESPN on August 29, 2021, there was increased scrutiny and investigation into the school's existence. This investigation included uncovering the identities and credentials of the team's administration. A former executive for the Ohio High School Athletic Association came forward to say that after three years of investigating the school, he was convinced that it was a "scam". A report published in December 2021 by the Ohio Department of Education concluded that the school was found to be operating as a scam.
The Centurions suffered lopsided losses in all six of their 2020 games, but their lack of success did not hinder their ability to schedule marquee games against elite preparatory and high schools. The televised game against IMG Academy was the second time they had played the school, following a similar 56–6 loss in 2020. Their 2021 schedule was ranked the fourth most difficult of any high school team in the United States. In the wake of the scandal surrounding the game, Bishop Sycamore's remaining opponents canceled their games against the team.
Pre-scandal background
Former player Aaron Boyd stated in an interview with Complex that athletes were recruited under the premise of the school being the "IMG of the Midwest". However, many of their student-athletes were older than high-school age, and there was no real campus. Instead, athletes were housed in a hotel for five months, with the only schooling being one visit to a public library. The school also struggled to maintain coaches as 80% of the coaching staff quit during the season and the team was left with just two coaches and one player's mother. The players were also not provided with food and some players resorted to stealing from supermarkets to eat.
Complex also conducted an anonymous interview with two former Bishop Sycamore students. They revealed that then head coach, Leroy Johnson, recruited the students with the prospect of "practicing at Ohio State's facilities". In reality, they held practice outside of an apartment complex that housed students at Ohio State. The team also did not have athletic trainers, which resulted in the athletes playing injured. The apartments housing the students frequently evicted them after Johnson failed to pay rent. Many players had already graduated from high school and there "were four or five kids that were 20, 21, [and] had children of their own". A number of players had legal issues; at one point so many players had active arrest warrants that the team could not fly to away games. One player joined the team immediately after being released from jail. The team also struggled with camaraderie; a former player claimed there were at least five fights at every practice.
Christians of Faith Academy
The school was originally founded as Christians of Faith Academy (COF) in 2018. A federal investigation was opened to look into COF for use of counterfeit currency, credit and debit card fraud, computer fraud and other potential crimes. It was shut down after just one season and became Bishop Sycamore. Leroy Johnson, the former head coach, claims that they had ties to the Third District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and had plans to build a "massive campus". Johnson was business-development director for the Richard Allen Group, the financial arm of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Johnson later used COF and the church's name during his attempts to sell life-insurance. The AME church has denied having any connection with the school, but an investigation by The Columbus Dispatch found a trail of emails and bank statements that documented the connections between the AME and the school, which was initially established in an effort to provide opportunities to disadvantaged youth. Whatever ties the AME had to the school were severed by fall 2018.
As Christians of Faith, the team played its inaugural season in 2018; out of 12 scheduled games, the team won two, lost eight and forfeited two, including its first scheduled game against IMG Academy.