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- Nov 2, 2011
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Well lets be a little fair here, Dmoney. The ONLY RBs on that list of past UM greats that were in the same league "HS recruiting hype" wise as it pertains to Collins/Sony/Cook was McGahee and Bratton. We got lucky with EJ. Kinda like DGriffins situation. Schools didnt think he would make the grade. Butch took a shot and won BIG!! SNAKE EYES! lol.
Gore wouldnt even be here if Butch had not left and he wasnt as highly recruited as Sony or Cook. I dont even think he was a 4 star. If he was it was barely. And he would be an Ole Miss/SEC legend if it werent for Coker. He and Roscoe had there bags packed and ready for Klan country. Coker swooped in and offered Roscoe. Gore came with him and the rest is UM history. Portis was not highly rated at all. **** Najeh Davenport was probably more highly rated out of HS then all of them. Anderson and Foreman were before the days of the star system but they were not on the level of Bo Jackson, Marcus Dupree or Hershel Walker recruting wise.
My point is that we can development guys like Yearby and Powell into the greats because they have the skill set. We need to bring back the days of hard work and dedication. Thats what made us great. No doubt in my mind that Duke and Yearby will be great UM backs. I would love to have Cook and Sony too but this program wasnt built on 5 stars. It was built on guys who wanted to be here and SUPPLEMENTED with 5 stars later on. JMO.
Great post. Even McGahee can be argued in the same category since he missed (IIRC) his senior seaon with an ACL. Same deal with Najeh. These are all kids that flourished while at UM. Gore is probably the only one in that category and we almost lost him.