ATLANTA -- Unless Wayne Arnold gets his high school diploma before classes start at Georgia on Aug. 19, all four of Jim Harrick's recruits for this year will have failed to meet qualifying standards.

Since Harrick took over coaching duties in 1999, nine players have failed to qualify to play for the Bulldogs after signing national letters of intent.

Arnold had to complete two classes in summer school to get his high school diploma, but he exceeded the number of absences allowed in a social studies class and was automatically dropped, said David Boyd, Arnold's coach at Berkmar High School.

However, Arnold apparently has one final chance to redeem himself. According to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arnold has received permission to take an Internet-based correspondence course, which would give him enough credits to earn his high school diploma should he indeed register for the class and pass the exam.

Arnold's high school team won state championships during his sophomore and junior years.

The three other Georgia signees -- centers Julius Lamptey of Oklahoma City and Larry Turner of Milledgeville and forward Alexander Johnson of Albany -- were already ruled ineligible to play. Turner was denied admission because of a questionable score on his ACT test, and he has since enrolled at Oklahoma. Lamptey and Turner have enrolled in prep schools.

In Arnold's case, he was allowed up to three absences without being dropped. He had 2½ absences after last week and he traveled out of town during the weekend, Boyd said. Arnold was late to class Monday, which counted as half an absence, which caused him to be dropped. He had an 'A' average, Boyd said.

Of Arnold's hopes to get his diploma, Harrick didn't sound overly optimistic in an earlier Journal-Constitution story.

"They tell me he is going to get it done, but I don't know,'' Harrick told the newspaper in an article Friday. "You've just got to wait and see. It's unbelievable.''

Arnold, a 6-foot-5 guard, averaged 24 points and 4.5 assists last season.

The fate of returning center Steve Thomas is still unknown. He's scheduled to stand trial in Athens next month on felony counts of attempted rape and aggravated assault. If Thomas doesn't return, Georgia would only have seven scholarship players back from last season, when they won the Southeastern Conference's East Division before losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.