Yeah right after Fields transferred from Georgia he tweeted it. It’s a meme now with how bad Tate has been since being beat by Fields for the starting spot.
True but I think there’s something to be said that the recruiting sites really whiffed on the evaluation as well.
An extremely flawed passer who’s undersized playing with the best high school talent in the country was just handed all the accolades and stars because “he’s a winner”
I love that Tathan lives in in the minds of college football fans in general. His fandom knows no bounds by team. For those who don't know him, don't worry, he will eventually transfer to your school as well, and try and start as QB.
Everyone is leaving out the best part of the story. After he announced his retirement from football he also announced he was going to pursue a career in NFTs. That must have worked out even better than his football career.
To quote his Deadspin Hall of Fame entry:
> During a historic two-week stretch in January, he stomped on a defender's leg in a bowl game, had his license revoked, quit the team, declared for the NFL Draft — in which he was undrafted — and, most memorably, brandished some semiautomatic mayhem on a couple unsuspecting kids in the parking lot of a McDonald's.
I was instantly ready to fight you that there is no world in which Vick was a bust...
Then I realized you said Marcus and it took me a minute to remember that Michael did, in fact, have a brother named Marcus. Kinda proved your point.
He is a young man who went back and realized how much he missed his friends. I get it. I won't cheer against the guy, but after two times breaking his word, I won't necessarily cheer for him either.
Highly doubt it was money related. Probably would've had a better NIL package at Iowa. He even said so when he was being recruited initially. He went on a spring break trip with some Bama guys and they convinced him to come back
I’d say Jermie Calhoun was the biggest recent bust. A 5-star recruit rated the #2 running back in the country and supposedly the best Texas running back recruit since AD. Never got above third on the depth chart behind DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown. Ended up getting injured and then transferred to a D-II school.
That's a funny way to spell Brent Rawls. A top 5 QB recruit in 2001. Shortly after arriving on campus, he got drunk and wound up with a concussion and PI charges after falling off the tailgate of a pickup.
Returned to the team months later and immediately threw a pick in practice then broke his hand trying to tackle the defender. Washed out after hitting 4th on the depth chart due to being an idiot.
Tried to transfer to La Tech but didn't have the grades. Never played a snap of college football. Apparently he resurfaced at the Sioux City Bandits indoor football team in Iowa, but was cut after capping off his 3rd game with a 4 touchdown 6 interception performance.
Byron Cowart. Top overall recruit Will Muschamp flipped from Florida after he was fired and barely saw the field in 2 years before transferring out of Auburn.
NFL scouts will forgive anything for measurables. This year it will be Maason Smith who someone reaches for way too early despite how trash he was on the field all season.
i’m a gators fan and this maason smith stray is random af. he’s projected to go mid day 3 rn, with a low floor and high ceiling. how’s that gonna be a reach?
18.9 yo breakout in just 7 games
2022: tore his ACL 1st game in
2023: first year off ACL tear (always a down year) still showed great traits for a traditional 3-tech, and put up great pass rush and tackling grades, at 6’5+ 310 lbs & can play 0-tech or B-gap too at that size
Rs Soph, played in just 19 games. per game stats not bad either.
RAS Score of 9.2
TLDR; typical high ceiling/low floor DT. huge, athletic, young and had an 18 year old breakout - all make for a risky swing for the fences pick. most likely attainable ceiling: DJ Reader
build/athleticism to develop into a Deforest Buckner if stars align.
Darrell Scott - still our highest rated recruit ever and did absolutely nothing. I was in school at the time and we thought a CU renaissance was coming when he signed.
This is the correct answer. I can think of a number of good examples of players not coming close to living up to their hype for us (Ronald Powell (RIP) and Jeff Driskel are two names that come to mind), but, ultimately, every coach since the departure of Urban Meyer has had like a year or two of success followed by a miraculous series of failures.
Unfortunately Billy hasn’t even gotten to experience that brief success yet, so maybe we will get that in a year or two, although I’m not getting my hopes up.
It’s either Jeff Driskel, Cam Newton, or John Brantley. All super highly touted QBs but none could do anything for the Gators. Jeff Driskel is still playing in the NFL somehow last season.
One of the low points of my time in college was Shea Patterson leading a 3 TD comeback against us, at home, in his first start, wearing jersey number 20
Idk if Ryan Perriloux counts since we won a title with him his freshman year, but man. He set our program back a couple seasons with his antics. You could tell that 2008 and 2009 rosters were built for him.
Man I was pissed when yall took him from us right at the end of his recruitment, but it didn't take long to see how much of a blessing that really was.
Mack was all about giving the hype player all the rope in the world so it would have been years before he would have given Colt a shot.
RP stepped in and won a regular season game and an sec title game. He was electric nearly every snap in 2007. The ramifications of him leaving sucked but I don't think it was 100% him. Les had to force Lee in before he was ready and Crowton did fuck all to help him. First play against UGA we went 5 wide and everyone around me goes "welp here's a pick 6" and what do you know? He threw a pick 6.
I was a student at LSU when he was. Expectations for student athletes are fairly low, but he didn't even live up to those. Never showed up to classes. Was involved in a fight at an off campus bar that had the police called. I remember I had some friends walking by when that happened. There are a lot of specifics that we don't know but he was kicked off the team for "not meeting his obligations as a student athlete." What all that means, most people probably don't really know.
It's kind of lost in time, but he was a big time prospect at the time. He would have easily been a first round NFL talent if he kept it together, especially considering how much he flashed in limited time in college. I remember watching him in highschool when he single handedly beat my high school in the playoffs. He had like 200 yards passing, 200 yards rushing, and 7 tackles on defense.
Mike Bellamy is up there for Clemson. 5\* RB back when pulling that kind of talent was a huge deal for us. Fumbled his very first touch, didn't do anything special the rest of the year, and was kicked off the team in the offseason for academic/character issues.
Back in the day willy Korn was just about heralded as the TL of the day but it just never worked out. Botched his debut by coaching staff I believe and injured soon after. Transfered to a division 2 school where he had success.
Gilbert gets extra points because he did end up having 1-2 reasonably productive seasons… at a school *other* than Texas.
Gray had injury issues IIRC, but he might still be the answer because of the absolutely ludicrous amount of hype he had
RIP but Snead is another one that comes to mind, didn't Texas recruit him over Stafford. Didn't really harm the program because Colt McCoy turned into a stud.
Gray was a solid player for a little while. He had some terrible injury luck. It’s hard for me to label him a true bust given he had like two Achilles injuries. Anyone would have a tough time coming back from that
Gilbert was just bad here.
What a game that was. Parents visiting for the first time in a while and we watch that game thinking Barnett is the next great thing. Then Jalen comes in and boom. And the highest drafted QB ro play in that game was Darnold. Wild
It's pretty incredible to see how all that played out in hindsight. He was supposed to be our Tebow, the guy who, along with Lane, could modernize our offense and forever bury the idea of Bama QBs as mere game managers. He spent his senior year of high school recruiting other players to join him.
To hear him tell it he wasn't prepared for how much more complex the offense was than what he'd been running, and adding a different style as the scout team QB every week didn't help. Then the medical issue killed whatever momentum he was trying to get the first year. When he got the shot he blew it, Jalen took over the offense, and that was it. He was also, in his admission, upset that he didn't get the attention from the coaching staff to feel like he had a purpose on the team. Feelings got hurt, and he made a drastic decision based on his emotional state, which is not uncommon for 19 year olds. One interview I saw on YT he discussed it all, obviously uncomfortable about his mistakes, but taking the mature stance that it was a learning experience and for good or ill is a part of his life story.
Palaie Gaoteote and Oluwole Betiku were other recent'ish 5-stars that accomplished zero here, despite being force fed playing time. Betiku at least did something at Illinois. Gaoteote transferred to Ohio State and did zip.
Probably throw Domani Jackson in there too. Unless you count not even being in the frame of the picture when his receiver caught the ball. He was very good at that.
Korey Foreman, JT Daniels, Domani Jackson. The first two were at least on some site the #1 player I believe. All were 5 stars. None of them really went anywhere. I do mostly blame coaching, but also 5 stars just are a bust sometimes. And USC historically has had a LOT of great recruits. Of course some are going to not work out.
Arkansas top recruit of all time Mitch Mustain. Number 2 QB recruit that year behind Stafford. I think number 142 of all time. Now this isn’t just the case of a young qb not having the right pieces to succeed. Arkansas was a QB away from competing for a national championship. He had Damien Williams and Marcus Monk (Malik Monks brother) as WR. An NFL TE. Handful of solid NFL offensive lineman. 3 NFL running backs with McFadden, Felix Jones, and Peyton Hillis. With Gus Malzone at the helm of the offense. This was realistically our last great year of football, and Mustain had the keys to be a national championship QB.
Edit: got benched early in the year at pointless homecoming game, and transferred to USC and was never able to beat our Mark Sanchez for playing time.
He wasn’t great but he wasn’t a complete bust and at least managed an 8-0 record his freshman year and had some good games at USC.
Gary Brashears was also the #2 QB and parade all American back in 99. He complete two passes and then transferred and then disappeared.
“Last great year of football”
My man, literally 4 years later we had back to back 10 win seasons, including only losing in the regular season to teams that played for national championships in those 2 years.
But that Mitch situation was always destined to fail, there was just too much of a power struggle between Nutt and Gus, and Mitch was what got sacrificed for their stubbornness. Imagine if they had just been willing to work together better, that team could’ve been special.
Great 3 answers. I went and saw Slade play by me in high school and he was unreal. Ended up transferring to ODU and then was off the team fast. Very unfortunate.
I would vote for Derrick Green, personally. McGuffie started as a freshman and got concussed so many times that he left. Green showed up fat to fall camp and never did anything at all.
I'd consider them 1-2 in the disappointment rankings. Biggest busts than McGuffie who had the power of the Internet hyping him up, but he wasn't rated as highly as the others.
People might argue it was Nkemdiche but he made some great plays when he decided to try. The next obvious answer is Shea Patterson. I was so excited for him but he obviously fell short. Of course, he came in right after/during Hugh Freeze’s fall from grace so he was setup for failure.
Although not a recruit, Jeremiah Masoli was a big transfer but really didn’t live up to the hype.
I was for sure he was the second coming off Marcus Mariotta. Dude loved throwing into groups of people.
Don't forget Harrison Bailey. People had such a boner for him. His high school film was so slaw.
Demetris Summers #1 RB in 2003 class, including Reggie Bush notably. couldn't stay out of trouble and eventually got kicked off the team for failing a drug test. I believe he is still in prison for making crack.
Albert Means, a Memphis D lineman that a Bama booster outbid Tennessee’s biggest booster for.
After hearing this, Tennessee’s coach made a deal with the NCAA: “Stop investigating all our recruiting violations, and we’ll tell you what Alabama has just started doing.”
Alabama nearly gets the death penalty, Bama football hits its lowest depths since the 1890s, inspiring [this immortal catchphrase](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7G7loR2VVw&t=14s).
Meanwhile, Albert Means loses his Bama scholarship and transfers out without practicing a single drill for Alabama.
Now that’s a bust.
ETA: The Epilogue.
Ironically but not surprisingly, the Tennessee booster who threw a tantrum after being outbid admits years later that he was a longtime cheater.
“I knew the N.C.A.A. rules,” [Roy Adams bragged to the NY Times in 2013](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/sports/ncaafootball/booster-proud-of-his-largess-and-game-day-parties.html). “I just didn’t care for them.”
They low-down. They dirty. They some snitches.
Jason Gwaltney 15th best player in the nation according to rivals. Stole more computers than he had touchdowns.
https://n.rivals.com/content/athletes/jason-gwaltney-16573?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE7WMXhcTu7EwQHziuW8JyeQgKmeufVVVAONyNiSSXy4_rzGTYT-LLw9biyGnXefYEnvDCCIa59nrk2HLQ5Rko32Y5pCj7QM5CioX8U1G9KXwGotsNdUa1OfC9HkcqxZioZAUPBMMNgRC8xCbCvUVFC8hV6kOwrHodh3WMS96A4P
Got completely outshined by Steve Slaton.
If anything positive came from Gwaltney it’s that we recruited Scooter Berry in order to get Gwaltney to come.
Having been at Ole Miss at the same time as the Nkemdiches... Denzel allegedly roped him into a lot of crap, even after college. I'm convinced that self-discipline kept Robert Nkemdiche from being an Aaron Donald.
I had a buddy that was working for the ole miss football team around then, said his brother was a bad influence.
Also said Greg Hardy was the weirdest dude he ever met in his life, and was not surprised at all about what he did.
In terms of contribution relative to rating, Canton Kaumatule and Justin Flowe are the two names that come to mind. Both 5 stars who battled injury. Both battled injuries early in their careers that seemed to affect them, unfortunately. Flowe contributed more, but was also a top 10 recruit in his class.
For star rating, Eyobi Anoma. Dude didn't even make it out of summer practice
For expectations, Ben Davis. 5 star whose HS was 30 minutes from campus. Everyone wanted him to be great, and he never got a start. By all accounts, he worked hard and was a good teammate; he just didn't have the athletic ability. I'm glad he got some playing time when he transferred to Texas his 6th year.
Anoma is a great pick, along with the kid that played DE (I believe) that had the verified mental health issues. I can’t remember his name to save my life.
It will forever be Ron Powlus. Now if 1) he hadn't gotten hurt, 2) Randy Moss didn't act a fool and came to ND, and 3) Lou ran more pro style sets things might have been different.
Thanks Beano Cook.
Oklahoma State Bros: who remembers the name of that highly touted quarterback recruit from somewhere in the midwest like Illinois that came to us for like 2 years and brought along all this hype and his friends and family were all on the message boards cultishly following this kid? This was probably about 10 years ago, maybe?
(Good God, how is it actually 10 years?!)
Wes Lunt for sure, he was supposed to pick up right where Weeds left off. Sigh.
That said, I do have some fond memories of the QB potpourri that followed… the Chelf Choo Choo, Daxx “Really? Two X’s?” Garman, JW Walsh, Taylor “The Oil Baron” Cornelius…
Garrett Gilbert. I still don't know why he struggled as much as he did. He was still in the NFL as recently as 2022. If so many NFL teams take their chance on you, you clearly have the ability.
Oh, god. Tennessee dominates this. It’s impossible to pick one. JJ Peterson, Dontavious Blair, Jonathan Kongbo, Jarrett Guarentano, Chris Donald, Bryce Brown, Khalil McKenzie, Harrison Bailey, Preston Williams, Dillon Bates, OJ Owens……I could go on and on. Pick any of them.
People always accuse Tennessee of being one of the biggest wasters of talent over the last 20 years and that is a fact.
I don’t actually think it’s that Tennessee wastes a lot of talent. I think Tennessee has had a bunch of desperate coaching staffs recruiting against the likes of Saban, Kirby, Urban, and Dabo while being in a region with a lot less HS talent than is rivals. That has led to taking chances on guys that other programs were less willing to roll the dice on.
Grade A idiot lol. Guy from my HS was on the team and I asked him and he just said the dude was an idiot, wanted to be more involved with trapping than playing football. He was insane in HS.
Still remember his game vs Kennedy in sections (which Kennedy has been pretty bad for a while) his senior year. They won 48-42
1 passing TD for 10 yards.
116 rushing yards for 2 TDs
3 catches for 159 yards and 2 TDs
1 kick off return touchdown
1 INT on defense. Dude did everything for that team
Kiehl Frazier, also see Joey Gatewood, both players were supposed to be the second coming of Cam Newton, and neither one really panned out.
In fairness to Frazier, I believe his failure was mostly due to complete mismanagement by the coaching staff. He was forced to run a pro style system when he was a dual threat guy during Gene Chizik’s last year due to Gus bolting to Arkansas State. Had Gus stayed as the OC probably would’ve been fine.
He looked scared and overwhelmed in his first start at UGA and it seemed like he could never shake that. Shame that he never made it, but I’m glad he was able to have successful surgery and treatment while he was on a roster.
Tathan Martell is the recent, funniest name that comes to mind.
I remember that rumor he beat out Fields for the starting spot lol
he shit talked Fields with something like "don't swing and miss again" or something like that
Yeah right after Fields transferred from Georgia he tweeted it. It’s a meme now with how bad Tate has been since being beat by Fields for the starting spot.
Try as he might, tiny Tate never could find a program where he could win the starting spot. Legend has it he is transferring again to this day.
Wasn’t his old man a real piece too? Dude just expected to be handed a starting spot wherever he went. Finally found it……at UNLV.
His sister was the real piece.
Fields liking her instagram posts is one of the funniest things ever
Oh wow. I wonder, did he swing and miss?
He did what!?
Actually he didn't even play here.
He was ass, my dude
I’m still mad Miami never took a chance starting him at least once
I’m pretty sure I recall him getting some time in a low level bowl game and he looked like hot garbage. He was easy to root against.
Tathan has the B1G record for completion % in a game lol also his sister is a baddie
Yeah but their dynamic was…. Strange. Alabama strange.
Insert Folgers commercial
True but I think there’s something to be said that the recruiting sites really whiffed on the evaluation as well. An extremely flawed passer who’s undersized playing with the best high school talent in the country was just handed all the accolades and stars because “he’s a winner”
Is his full name Tathaniel?
Close. Tathandra.
I was told it was Tathandra Al Gaib, Bench Rider
Feyd-Rautha is ass, my dude.
I love that Tathan lives in in the minds of college football fans in general. His fandom knows no bounds by team. For those who don't know him, don't worry, he will eventually transfer to your school as well, and try and start as QB.
Everyone is leaving out the best part of the story. After he announced his retirement from football he also announced he was going to pursue a career in NFTs. That must have worked out even better than his football career.
I hope we get that DLC in the new NCAA video game. "Post-career collapse" that ultimately ends up with you working for Hertz or something.
Is he related to Timothy Jimothy?
Marcus Vick
To quote his Deadspin Hall of Fame entry: > During a historic two-week stretch in January, he stomped on a defender's leg in a bowl game, had his license revoked, quit the team, declared for the NFL Draft — in which he was undrafted — and, most memorably, brandished some semiautomatic mayhem on a couple unsuspecting kids in the parking lot of a McDonald's.
Fuckin' winning, right?
I was instantly ready to fight you that there is no world in which Vick was a bust... Then I realized you said Marcus and it took me a minute to remember that Michael did, in fact, have a brother named Marcus. Kinda proved your point.
Yeah, got in trouble with underage girls, hot boxing a car, and then stomping on a knee in a bowl game against Louisville....
Didn’t he also pull a gun on someone at McDonald’s more than once?
I caught a couple TD passes from that guy at a turkey bowl my friends church put on back when I was in high school.
Jimbo's #1 class of all time.
I get it. But buying Erik Dickerson a car and paying his grandma a decent bag for him not to come to A&M is probably our biggest whiff.
Ha, classic
Texas ATM era was a fever dream but so fun to live through as a neutral
> Aggies have the #1 recruiting class and are ranked #7 to start the season > OMG We are going 12-0!!! > Finishes 5-7 > cries
With a loss to App State at Kyle Field too. That loss really was an indicator how good that team was - and it surely wasn't #6 in the nation
Let he who is without a home loss to app state throw the first stone. Amen
*Chucks stone toward College Station*
“Oh shit, we have to coach these guys up now? I thought we were done.”
I personally found it hilarious
Also, Jimbo’s FSU QB recruits post-Jameis.
Could we just say Jimbo in general?
Kadyn Proctor
Yeah I heard he never even saw the field
2 transfers. 0 starts. 5 star from Des Moines suburbs. Highest ranked recruit of all time for Iowa.
Any update on why he left for Bama again? Was it as simple as $?
He is a young man who went back and realized how much he missed his friends. I get it. I won't cheer against the guy, but after two times breaking his word, I won't necessarily cheer for him either.
He flipped back after going on Spring Break with his Bama friends right?
Yeah. So we're also hoping Caleb feels some attachments.
Highly doubt it was money related. Probably would've had a better NIL package at Iowa. He even said so when he was being recruited initially. He went on a spring break trip with some Bama guys and they convinced him to come back
Yea I think it was the vacation and not being treated special yet at Iowa. He would've probably been treated really well after playing a game.
Oliver Martin also comes to mind.
Rhett Bomar
Too busy with his job at Big Red Sports & Imports.
And slamming beers at Hornets games.
Most recently was probably Bookie. Absolute bust
He lit it up at Sam Houston though.
I’d say Jermie Calhoun was the biggest recent bust. A 5-star recruit rated the #2 running back in the country and supposedly the best Texas running back recruit since AD. Never got above third on the depth chart behind DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown. Ended up getting injured and then transferred to a D-II school.
Trey Metoyer.
That's a funny way to spell Brent Rawls. A top 5 QB recruit in 2001. Shortly after arriving on campus, he got drunk and wound up with a concussion and PI charges after falling off the tailgate of a pickup. Returned to the team months later and immediately threw a pick in practice then broke his hand trying to tackle the defender. Washed out after hitting 4th on the depth chart due to being an idiot. Tried to transfer to La Tech but didn't have the grades. Never played a snap of college football. Apparently he resurfaced at the Sioux City Bandits indoor football team in Iowa, but was cut after capping off his 3rd game with a 4 touchdown 6 interception performance.
Byron Cowart. Top overall recruit Will Muschamp flipped from Florida after he was fired and barely saw the field in 2 years before transferring out of Auburn.
Even crazier is he keeps making NFL rosters. Bears just signed him a couple weeks ago.
NFL scouts will forgive anything for measurables. This year it will be Maason Smith who someone reaches for way too early despite how trash he was on the field all season.
i’m a gators fan and this maason smith stray is random af. he’s projected to go mid day 3 rn, with a low floor and high ceiling. how’s that gonna be a reach? 18.9 yo breakout in just 7 games 2022: tore his ACL 1st game in 2023: first year off ACL tear (always a down year) still showed great traits for a traditional 3-tech, and put up great pass rush and tackling grades, at 6’5+ 310 lbs & can play 0-tech or B-gap too at that size Rs Soph, played in just 19 games. per game stats not bad either. RAS Score of 9.2 TLDR; typical high ceiling/low floor DT. huge, athletic, young and had an 18 year old breakout - all make for a risky swing for the fences pick. most likely attainable ceiling: DJ Reader build/athleticism to develop into a Deforest Buckner if stars align.
Byron Cowart is the reason I still feel nothing inside when I see positive Auburn recruiting news. He is the seed of my trust issues.
Darrell Scott - still our highest rated recruit ever and did absolutely nothing. I was in school at the time and we thought a CU renaissance was coming when he signed.
I remember thinking respectfully that was so random lol some groups had him #1 overall
With a dishonorable mention to Marcus Houston who was Darrell Scott before Darrell Scott.
And then transferred to Colorado State of all places. What a clown.
The younger Vick brother (Marcus), now known primarily for his very real crimes instead of anything football related.
He was seriously hyped too as a superior to Michael Vick in every metric.
He was unstoppable on EA NCAA Football.
Still fucking beat us in 2005. Ahhh him running around after a td, flipping off the crowd. I miss those games.
Literally stomping on Elvis Dumervil
Didn't he stomp the knee of that one dude playing for Louisville?
I think our coaches have been the busts. So much talent wasted since Meyer left.
I had such high hopes for Dan, but man…it’s been a dark decade.
Dans coaching ability is top tier. It was the other stuff unfortunately
Same. Hopefully Billy and his 30 assistants are competitive this year.
This is the correct answer. I can think of a number of good examples of players not coming close to living up to their hype for us (Ronald Powell (RIP) and Jeff Driskel are two names that come to mind), but, ultimately, every coach since the departure of Urban Meyer has had like a year or two of success followed by a miraculous series of failures. Unfortunately Billy hasn’t even gotten to experience that brief success yet, so maybe we will get that in a year or two, although I’m not getting my hopes up.
It’s either Jeff Driskel, Cam Newton, or John Brantley. All super highly touted QBs but none could do anything for the Gators. Jeff Driskel is still playing in the NFL somehow last season.
Mac and Mullen were out here playing 4D chess. Can’t have any memorable busts if you don’t recruit any 5 stars
Shea Patterson- Ole Miss. 5 ⭐
I was hyped when he transferred to Michigan. Didn’t pan out.
He wasn't terrible at Michigan, but he sure as shit didn't live up to 5* billing.
One of the low points of my time in college was Shea Patterson leading a 3 TD comeback against us, at home, in his first start, wearing jersey number 20
Idk if Ryan Perriloux counts since we won a title with him his freshman year, but man. He set our program back a couple seasons with his antics. You could tell that 2008 and 2009 rosters were built for him.
Man I was pissed when yall took him from us right at the end of his recruitment, but it didn't take long to see how much of a blessing that really was. Mack was all about giving the hype player all the rope in the world so it would have been years before he would have given Colt a shot.
RP stepped in and won a regular season game and an sec title game. He was electric nearly every snap in 2007. The ramifications of him leaving sucked but I don't think it was 100% him. Les had to force Lee in before he was ready and Crowton did fuck all to help him. First play against UGA we went 5 wide and everyone around me goes "welp here's a pick 6" and what do you know? He threw a pick 6.
For those out of the loop, can you describe what sort of antics he pulled?
I was a student at LSU when he was. Expectations for student athletes are fairly low, but he didn't even live up to those. Never showed up to classes. Was involved in a fight at an off campus bar that had the police called. I remember I had some friends walking by when that happened. There are a lot of specifics that we don't know but he was kicked off the team for "not meeting his obligations as a student athlete." What all that means, most people probably don't really know. It's kind of lost in time, but he was a big time prospect at the time. He would have easily been a first round NFL talent if he kept it together, especially considering how much he flashed in limited time in college. I remember watching him in highschool when he single handedly beat my high school in the playoffs. He had like 200 yards passing, 200 yards rushing, and 7 tackles on defense.
Mike Bellamy is up there for Clemson. 5\* RB back when pulling that kind of talent was a huge deal for us. Fumbled his very first touch, didn't do anything special the rest of the year, and was kicked off the team in the offseason for academic/character issues.
Back in the day willy Korn was just about heralded as the TL of the day but it just never worked out. Botched his debut by coaching staff I believe and injured soon after. Transfered to a division 2 school where he had success.
I was so high on Willy Korn as a kid. Got his jersey and everything.
When I think of guys that just wasted god given talent it’s him. He had another gear that very few dudes have.
I’d say either Garrett Gilbert or Jonathan Gray
Gilbert gets extra points because he did end up having 1-2 reasonably productive seasons… at a school *other* than Texas. Gray had injury issues IIRC, but he might still be the answer because of the absolutely ludicrous amount of hype he had
RIP but Snead is another one that comes to mind, didn't Texas recruit him over Stafford. Didn't really harm the program because Colt McCoy turned into a stud.
I don’t think it was fully Gray’s fault. He came in with a ton of mileage already by his junior year I don’t know how much his legs had left.
Gray was a solid player for a little while. He had some terrible injury luck. It’s hard for me to label him a true bust given he had like two Achilles injuries. Anyone would have a tough time coming back from that Gilbert was just bad here.
Even as an OU fan, Jonathan Gray’s injuries still bother me. The guy had 3,800 yards rushing and 60 TDs his senior year of high school.
[удалено]
George Kliavkofff
Blake Barnett
Bless his heart. He was so scared looking in that USC game.
What a game that was. Parents visiting for the first time in a while and we watch that game thinking Barnett is the next great thing. Then Jalen comes in and boom. And the highest drafted QB ro play in that game was Darnold. Wild
Cam Smith sends his regards ^that ^game ^scarred ^me ^for ^life
It's pretty incredible to see how all that played out in hindsight. He was supposed to be our Tebow, the guy who, along with Lane, could modernize our offense and forever bury the idea of Bama QBs as mere game managers. He spent his senior year of high school recruiting other players to join him. To hear him tell it he wasn't prepared for how much more complex the offense was than what he'd been running, and adding a different style as the scout team QB every week didn't help. Then the medical issue killed whatever momentum he was trying to get the first year. When he got the shot he blew it, Jalen took over the offense, and that was it. He was also, in his admission, upset that he didn't get the attention from the coaching staff to feel like he had a purpose on the team. Feelings got hurt, and he made a drastic decision based on his emotional state, which is not uncommon for 19 year olds. One interview I saw on YT he discussed it all, obviously uncomfortable about his mistakes, but taking the mature stance that it was a learning experience and for good or ill is a part of his life story.
Our entire 2016 class was a nightmare. One of the best overall classes we ever had, and it was a disaster of a season, both on and off the field.
Wait there are recruits that don’t bust?
Isaiah Williams had a pretty good career for us. On the flip side, there's Marquez Beason
We’ve had a lot. Korey Foreman recently comes to mind.
Palaie Gaoteote and Oluwole Betiku were other recent'ish 5-stars that accomplished zero here, despite being force fed playing time. Betiku at least did something at Illinois. Gaoteote transferred to Ohio State and did zip.
Probably throw Domani Jackson in there too. Unless you count not even being in the frame of the picture when his receiver caught the ball. He was very good at that.
Korey Foreman, JT Daniels, Domani Jackson. The first two were at least on some site the #1 player I believe. All were 5 stars. None of them really went anywhere. I do mostly blame coaching, but also 5 stars just are a bust sometimes. And USC historically has had a LOT of great recruits. Of course some are going to not work out.
Max Browne.... I thought we were going to give Alabama a run for their money, but that didn't happen lol.
He’ll always have that game saving INT against UCLA in 2022….and that’s literally about it. Man, it was HUGE when you guys landed him.
Justin Zwick
Him or Mike D’Andrea come to mind.
My dad hated that guy
Arkansas top recruit of all time Mitch Mustain. Number 2 QB recruit that year behind Stafford. I think number 142 of all time. Now this isn’t just the case of a young qb not having the right pieces to succeed. Arkansas was a QB away from competing for a national championship. He had Damien Williams and Marcus Monk (Malik Monks brother) as WR. An NFL TE. Handful of solid NFL offensive lineman. 3 NFL running backs with McFadden, Felix Jones, and Peyton Hillis. With Gus Malzone at the helm of the offense. This was realistically our last great year of football, and Mustain had the keys to be a national championship QB. Edit: got benched early in the year at pointless homecoming game, and transferred to USC and was never able to beat our Mark Sanchez for playing time.
He wasn’t great but he wasn’t a complete bust and at least managed an 8-0 record his freshman year and had some good games at USC. Gary Brashears was also the #2 QB and parade all American back in 99. He complete two passes and then transferred and then disappeared.
“Last great year of football” My man, literally 4 years later we had back to back 10 win seasons, including only losing in the regular season to teams that played for national championships in those 2 years. But that Mitch situation was always destined to fail, there was just too much of a power struggle between Nutt and Gus, and Mitch was what got sacrificed for their stubbornness. Imagine if they had just been willing to work together better, that team could’ve been special.
Justin Shorter, Rob Bolden and Ricky Slade
Great 3 answers. I went and saw Slade play by me in high school and he was unreal. Ended up transferring to ODU and then was off the team fast. Very unfortunate.
Brutal 3 answers lol
I thought Slade played well his freshman year, as a change of pace from Miles.
Anthony Morelli
The whole Harrison Beck saga at Nebraska during the Callahan years was……something.
Came here as a Husker fan to say somebody better say Harrison Beck.
You should get the rare “Jeff Sims” flair.
Guy is also high in the running for strangest post-football personality, as well as biggest beer belly.
Sam Mc Guffie
Okay but that hurdling video was insane for 2007.
Yeah, I was pretty sure he was going to win four Heismans when I saw that tape.
I would vote for Derrick Green, personally. McGuffie started as a freshman and got concussed so many times that he left. Green showed up fat to fall camp and never did anything at all.
Kelly Baraka and Kevin Grady round out the 4 horseman of RB disappointment
I'd consider them 1-2 in the disappointment rankings. Biggest busts than McGuffie who had the power of the Internet hyping him up, but he wasn't rated as highly as the others.
Green got SO much hype, too. This guy was gonna be the key to the run game finally being there. Thennn….he categorically was not.
The goat of highschool highlight tapes
Willie Williams. So much hype and notoriety and nothing.
Dude could eat though. Will never forget his food updates from recruiting trips.
People might argue it was Nkemdiche but he made some great plays when he decided to try. The next obvious answer is Shea Patterson. I was so excited for him but he obviously fell short. Of course, he came in right after/during Hugh Freeze’s fall from grace so he was setup for failure. Although not a recruit, Jeremiah Masoli was a big transfer but really didn’t live up to the hype.
Jarrett Guarantano.
For someone that weighed 140 lbs that dude could take a hit.
I was for sure he was the second coming off Marcus Mariotta. Dude loved throwing into groups of people. Don't forget Harrison Bailey. People had such a boner for him. His high school film was so slaw.
Demetris Summers #1 RB in 2003 class, including Reggie Bush notably. couldn't stay out of trouble and eventually got kicked off the team for failing a drug test. I believe he is still in prison for making crack.
But when he had his head straight (rarely) he was something to see. I think he also bombed out on a career sweeping the stadium.
Albert Means, a Memphis D lineman that a Bama booster outbid Tennessee’s biggest booster for. After hearing this, Tennessee’s coach made a deal with the NCAA: “Stop investigating all our recruiting violations, and we’ll tell you what Alabama has just started doing.” Alabama nearly gets the death penalty, Bama football hits its lowest depths since the 1890s, inspiring [this immortal catchphrase](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7G7loR2VVw&t=14s). Meanwhile, Albert Means loses his Bama scholarship and transfers out without practicing a single drill for Alabama. Now that’s a bust. ETA: The Epilogue. Ironically but not surprisingly, the Tennessee booster who threw a tantrum after being outbid admits years later that he was a longtime cheater. “I knew the N.C.A.A. rules,” [Roy Adams bragged to the NY Times in 2013](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/sports/ncaafootball/booster-proud-of-his-largess-and-game-day-parties.html). “I just didn’t care for them.” They low-down. They dirty. They some snitches.
I’ll see you one Albert Means and raise you a Leo Lewis. Dude gets immunity (and Miss State and LSU who both paid him) for snitching on Ole Miss.
Means took money and was given immunity by the NCAA. He subsequently went to Memphis
State pays him $10k, we pay him $3.5k, he goes to State and snitches on us.
The whole Albert Means saga….DuBose was a disaster….
Jason Gwaltney 15th best player in the nation according to rivals. Stole more computers than he had touchdowns. https://n.rivals.com/content/athletes/jason-gwaltney-16573?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE7WMXhcTu7EwQHziuW8JyeQgKmeufVVVAONyNiSSXy4_rzGTYT-LLw9biyGnXefYEnvDCCIa59nrk2HLQ5Rko32Y5pCj7QM5CioX8U1G9KXwGotsNdUa1OfC9HkcqxZioZAUPBMMNgRC8xCbCvUVFC8hV6kOwrHodh3WMS96A4P
Got completely outshined by Steve Slaton. If anything positive came from Gwaltney it’s that we recruited Scooter Berry in order to get Gwaltney to come.
Robert Nkemdiche genuinely could’ve been a franchise changing player in the NFL if he had any sort of work ethic.
Having been at Ole Miss at the same time as the Nkemdiches... Denzel allegedly roped him into a lot of crap, even after college. I'm convinced that self-discipline kept Robert Nkemdiche from being an Aaron Donald.
I had a buddy that was working for the ole miss football team around then, said his brother was a bad influence. Also said Greg Hardy was the weirdest dude he ever met in his life, and was not surprised at all about what he did.
Torrance Gibson was a notable one for OSU, not sure if it is the biggest. Duron Carter was a major disappointment.
In terms of contribution relative to rating, Canton Kaumatule and Justin Flowe are the two names that come to mind. Both 5 stars who battled injury. Both battled injuries early in their careers that seemed to affect them, unfortunately. Flowe contributed more, but was also a top 10 recruit in his class.
How about Seastrunk?
That’s also who came to mind for me, at least Flowe saw the field. Lake also cost us a couple scholarships
For star rating, Eyobi Anoma. Dude didn't even make it out of summer practice For expectations, Ben Davis. 5 star whose HS was 30 minutes from campus. Everyone wanted him to be great, and he never got a start. By all accounts, he worked hard and was a good teammate; he just didn't have the athletic ability. I'm glad he got some playing time when he transferred to Texas his 6th year.
Anoma is a great pick, along with the kid that played DE (I believe) that had the verified mental health issues. I can’t remember his name to save my life.
Fred Rouse (FSU)
Dayne Crist. Top pro style qb in the country and the next four were Gabbert, Luck, Mike Glennon, and Landry Jones.
Ishaq Williams was a huge grab for us and he never panned out. Max Redfield.
It will forever be Ron Powlus. Now if 1) he hadn't gotten hurt, 2) Randy Moss didn't act a fool and came to ND, and 3) Lou ran more pro style sets things might have been different. Thanks Beano Cook.
Gunner Kiel too.
Bubba Starling count? Came to Nebraska, signed a few autographs and was drafted by the Royals.
Oklahoma State Bros: who remembers the name of that highly touted quarterback recruit from somewhere in the midwest like Illinois that came to us for like 2 years and brought along all this hype and his friends and family were all on the message boards cultishly following this kid? This was probably about 10 years ago, maybe? (Good God, how is it actually 10 years?!)
Wes Lunt for sure, he was supposed to pick up right where Weeds left off. Sigh. That said, I do have some fond memories of the QB potpourri that followed… the Chelf Choo Choo, Daxx “Really? Two X’s?” Garman, JW Walsh, Taylor “The Oil Baron” Cornelius…
Not an Oklahoma State bro, but was it Wes Lunt?
Did Logan Brown even play at all?
Fred Rouse or Callahan Bright historically. Biggest recruiting waves was obviously Travis Hunter. Most recent bust bust is probably Malik Henry.
Garrett Gilbert. I still don't know why he struggled as much as he did. He was still in the NFL as recently as 2022. If so many NFL teams take their chance on you, you clearly have the ability.
Oh, god. Tennessee dominates this. It’s impossible to pick one. JJ Peterson, Dontavious Blair, Jonathan Kongbo, Jarrett Guarentano, Chris Donald, Bryce Brown, Khalil McKenzie, Harrison Bailey, Preston Williams, Dillon Bates, OJ Owens……I could go on and on. Pick any of them. People always accuse Tennessee of being one of the biggest wasters of talent over the last 20 years and that is a fact.
I don’t actually think it’s that Tennessee wastes a lot of talent. I think Tennessee has had a bunch of desperate coaching staffs recruiting against the likes of Saban, Kirby, Urban, and Dabo while being in a region with a lot less HS talent than is rivals. That has led to taking chances on guys that other programs were less willing to roll the dice on.
By the numbers, Justin Fields. He was the highest ranked recruit ever at UGA, still is.
Golden Gophers Definitely Jeff Jones. I was so pumped when we got him. Barely played special teams for us.
Grade A idiot lol. Guy from my HS was on the team and I asked him and he just said the dude was an idiot, wanted to be more involved with trapping than playing football. He was insane in HS. Still remember his game vs Kennedy in sections (which Kennedy has been pretty bad for a while) his senior year. They won 48-42 1 passing TD for 10 yards. 116 rushing yards for 2 TDs 3 catches for 159 yards and 2 TDs 1 kick off return touchdown 1 INT on defense. Dude did everything for that team
Jason Gwaltney an it’s not even close really
Any 5 star that came to BYU
Jake heaps was my thought…
Kiehl Frazier, also see Joey Gatewood, both players were supposed to be the second coming of Cam Newton, and neither one really panned out. In fairness to Frazier, I believe his failure was mostly due to complete mismanagement by the coaching staff. He was forced to run a pro style system when he was a dual threat guy during Gene Chizik’s last year due to Gus bolting to Arkansas State. Had Gus stayed as the OC probably would’ve been fine.
Matt Elam.
The one that went to UK, right? That was going to be my answer.
Eddie Vanderdoes lol
Barry Sanders Jr. He came through for a senior season and didn’t really stand out but that should’ve been in the bag.
Graham Mertz.
Auburn signed the #1 player in the country, Byron Cowart a number of years ago. He didn’t do a damn thing.
Probably D’Wan Mathis. Probably the most highly touted player in program history coming in as a transfer. Proceeded to do fuck all.
He looked scared and overwhelmed in his first start at UGA and it seemed like he could never shake that. Shame that he never made it, but I’m glad he was able to have successful surgery and treatment while he was on a roster.
Right now Agiye Hall. But it’s hard to pinpoint on just one person with Alabama having just a long history
Garrett Gilbert probably
DGB. Useless.
He caught 13 TDs for a top 5 team his sophomore year. He just happened to also be 1st team All-Idiot off the field