According to American Football Database: "Lotulelei, too, failed to qualify academically for his original school of choice, Brigham Young University. He eventually spent what would have been his freshman season delivering furniture for a store in Salt Lake City.[4] After a year, he enrolled at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. . . ."
After a year at Snow, "Lotulelei took the 2009 season off to preserve another year of college eligibility. He was still recruited by BYU, but also Oregon State, Utah State, and Utah. "The Utah coaches came down to Snow a couple of times," Lotulelei said. 'They showed me they really wanted me. It showed me they really cared. So coming here wasn't that hard of a choice.'"
Without an AA from Snow, Star would have had to meet the same admissions standards as apply out of high school, which meant he was not, again, going to be admitted.
Bronco can be criticized for a number of things, but I don't think this is one of them.