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Top 5 UM recruiting busts in the last 20 years (Long)

Leggett , WW , Marve, and KW all come to mind when talking busts. Ryan Moore pops up too, he didn't live up to the hype but at least was ok .
 
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Kyle Wright
Willie Williams


Everyone else.

Those two cats had as much natural ability at their position as anyone we've ever recruited. Kyle was, to some extent, ruined by our coaches and pitiful oline.
 
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wouldnt have Tyrone Moss on the list.

kid was solid....just not comparable to the backs right before him.
 
dycane said:
Kyle Wright
Willie Williams


Everyone else.

Those two cats had as much natural ability at their position as anyone we've ever recruited. Kyle was, to some extent, ruined by our coaches and pitiful oline.
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All busts are ruined by something. Those two certainly left the biggest gap between their performance and their hype that I can remember, although cases can certainly be made for others, like German. People forget how he was supposed to be a better football player than Deion Sanders.
 
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Who was that big TE we got from Texas? He ended up transferring to Memphis or something like that. We originally got a commitment from the other great HS TE from Texas, Martellus Bennett, but then he decommitted and went to Texas A&M. We got the other guy and now I can't even remember his name. although I can remember Bennett, the one who got away.
 
Yeah, we had some big oversized and slow OL's over the years. We could go back to Freeman Brown, who was huge but couldn't even start when his HS teammate Ricky Perry did. And Perry wasn't much.

Going back that far, we had guys like Anthony Lewis from Brockton, when Brockton was a nationally ranked HS football power. He did nothing at UM. We had that DE from Detroit, likewise did nothing. Both were second team USA Today A-A's. Of course, Cory Booker was a first team USA Today A-A, and he's better at politics than he was at Stanford.
 
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TheMatador said:
Who was that big TE we got from Texas? He ended up transferring to Memphis or something like that. We originally got a commitment from the other great HS TE from Texas, Martellus Bennett, but then he decommitted and went to Texas A&M. We got the other guy and now I can't even remember his name. although I can remember Bennett, the one who got away.
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Dajleon Farr
 
Ray Ray Armstrong, Ryan Moore, Kyle Wright, Arthur Brown all very deserving. Hopefully Seantrel Henderson has a great season & keeps his name off this list!!
 
Great thread Jassid. My personal top 5.

5. Charlie Jones
4. Reggie Youngblood
3. Aldarius Johnson
2. Kyle Wright
1. Willie Williams
 
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How about the RB we had who ended up transferring to NC State. I wanna say Bobby Washington? Akieem Jolla and Ryan Moore. Willie Williams had his off the field issues to say the least but he needed to just be a hit and run LB here. Coaching was a big issue for some of the busts you guys are naming.
 
Smdh.

Not one of you remember Bryan Fortay? The only former player to sue the U?
 
How about Akiem Jolla who was recruited by Coker and taken over Santonio Holmes and Devin Aromashadu (Who is still in the NFL). In the Erickson days, QB Alan Hall from Middleburg, FL who was highly rated and never amounted to much.
 
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It's Willie Williams by a mile. The other guys on the list at least made it on the field and made some contributions. Willie did neither.
 
I'm reluctant to name a player as a bust who ended up starting for a couple of years, like Kyle Wright. He was a journeyman while he played, but he started. It's hard to expect a HS superstar to always end up a superstar in college. Some guys, though, were absolute, complete busts.

I also remember kids from the '80's and maybe the '90's, who were highly-touted and highly-sought players in HS, who ended up as career backups and special teams players. There was a kid in the '80's from St. Pete, a tall kid who was kind of a tweener. I don't know if he was supposed to grow into a LB or end up a TE, but all I remember him was on special teams. I remember watching him run down to cover kickoffs and he was the first guy down--looked like a demon. I hesitate to name him on this list, because it is kind of disaparaging. He put his body on the line running down like a maniac. I don't even remember what position he was on the roster, but he was not a starter.

If guys practice hard, and play hard on special teams, and that's the best they can do, I don't necessarily want to bad mouth them.
 
cowboycane said:
lauderdaleballer said:
The MNW/BTW crew shouldn't be on that list... From 05-07 UM was a dumpster fire... With no leadership in place they gave us hope and showed signs of promise... They just couldn't get us past 9 wins... Those aren't busts... If your qb is top 3 in school history in passing yards, tds, and completion prrcentage/ ratings then he isn't a bust... Yea he's also the all-time leader in pics but with the exception of his 2011 campaign he wasn't bad... We had a 2nd rounder in B. Harris... B. Wash was all-acc at guard until he was moved to tackle... Forston was injury prone but he had a strong 2010 campaign and we haven't seen a similar production from that position since then... Streeter was a late bloomer and gave us a strong 2011 season... Who's better than Spence? Collier was a playmaker who wasn't appreciated until he was gone... AJ disappeared production wise as well as literally after 2008... Thompkins was a role player as well as Ben Jones... DJ gave us production whenever he was healthy...

Were there any superstars? No but the class was solid... All of them should have shirted due to injuries but we didn't have the luxury of doing so... As a group of sophomores they gave us 9 wins but they couldn't get over the hump... With exception maybe 4(and 2 of them fell off due to off field related events) most teams would have took their production... We have trouted more disappointments and worse production than those players... And lets not blame the investigation solely on them... This goes back to 04 but NCAA can't get a word out of those players( I don't think they have anything)...

If Kyle Wright... Isn't on that list you're just being emotional... What about Ian Symonette? What about James Bryant? Andrew Johnson? I wouldn't put Moss on there because he was having a great season in 04 before the injury and before that he either had Gore or a productive Payton in front of him...
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Symonnette was only a bust if you were delusional and though those cinder block feet could be improved. Bryant didn't have NEARLY the hype of Willie or the other guys on this list. Andrew Johnson wasn't even the most hyped running back in his own class.

The MNW/BTW crew deserves a spot because they were supposed to be the foundation of a team that won a title. Instead they were the foundation of teams that finished about .500. "Bust" means failure to live up to hype, and I don't recall there ever being as much hype around a single class as those guys. Yes, individuals were productive(Spence most notably), but they weren't billed as individuals when they came in, they were "the baby canes".
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No busts are individuals who has minimal contribution... The hype those kids had was unrealistic and unfair to an extent... We were expecting them to hit the ground running but that's unrealistic... 5 out of the 11 is in the league and a the rest contributed in some way... How can you put those guys up with the likes of WW who did nothing here? They did underachiever as a unit but they weren't busts... As a group of sophomores they won 9 games... We have yet to win 9 games since 09 which is sad... I wouldn't put Moss up there because he had players in front of him... Payton had a good season in and Gore was in front him... When he finally started in 05 he was having a great season until he was injured... WW deserve to be there and you can make the argument for Wright but I disagree with Moss and the MNW/BTW kids... They just couldn't fix an already broken problem...
 
TheMatador said:
Yeah, we had some big oversized and slow OL's over the years. We could go back to Freeman Brown, who was huge but couldn't even start when his HS teammate Ricky Perry did. And Perry wasn't much.

Going back that far, we had guys like Anthony Lewis from Brockton, when Brockton was a nationally ranked HS football power. He did nothing at UM. We had that DE from Detroit, likewise did nothing. Both were second team USA Today A-A's. Of course, Cory Booker was a first team USA Today A-A, and he's better at politics than he was at Stanford.
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The guy from Detroit, are you referring to Cameron Binion? Gatorade Player of the Year in Michigan

I was told from good sources that the ERRickson and his staff basically recruited off the national lists. That's mind-blowing to me
 
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