5-Star Busts

[GatorTAG]

I always thought Mitch Mustain was a huge bust. He was the #1 HS QB ahead of Stafford and Tebow. They went on to have great college careers and became 1st round draft picks. Mustain followed his HS coach Gus Malzahn to Arkansas where he started as a freshman handing off to Darren McFadden, Peyton Hillis and Felix Jones. He eventually lost the starting job and then transferred to USC where he sat behind Dirty Sanchez. I think he played a couple of years in the Arena league. What a bust.

 

[Gatorbait25]

I always thought Mitch Mustain was a huge bust. He was the #1 HS QB ahead of Stafford and Tebow. They went on to have great college careers and became 1st round draft picks. Mustain followed his HS coach Gus Malzahn to Arkansas where he started as a freshman handing off to Darren McFadden, Peyton Hillis and Felix Jones. He eventually lost the starting job and then transferred to USC where he sat behind Dirty Sanchez. I think he played a couple of years in the Arena league. What a bust.

Yep. Dude couldn't even beat out Casey Dick!

 

[alcoholica]

Safety Tre Orr- Don't remember the name? Yeah he didn't see the field much. Highly touted safety I think from the 00 class, and never saw the field.
WR - Reggie Vickers..Big recruit out of Belle Glade..Think he was a nephew of either Reidel or Fred..I'm not sure if the guy ever caught a pass for us.
Safety Kyle Jackson- Big recruit...no ball skills, and couldn't make an open field tackle to save his life. Not exactly traits you want in a safety.He played a little as a freshmen back in 04 before Reggie came via Juco, and eventually lost his job a few games into his sr season 07 to Major.

Safety Cory Bailey- Big five star recruit. Wasn't particularly good at anything.

I think Vickers blew out his knee

 

[alcoholica]

He wasn't a future NBA player, but it's tough to call the guy who is probably #2 on the career assists list a bust.

Not a bust, but a huge disappointment. Perhaps the worst shooting guard of the Donovan era. As in actual shooting, we know he was a PG

 

[Gatorbait25]

I think Vickers blew out his knee

I think you're right, but we haven't been able to get much out of Glades since then outside of Kelvin.
Hell I don't even think Zook offered Santonio Holmes.

 

[alcoholica]

I think you're right, but we haven't been able to get much out of Glades since then outside of Kelvin.
Hell I don't even think Zook offered Santonio Holmes.

Yeah not really. Not sure who SOSs recruiter was for the area. We got Deonte, Janoris was from Pahokee (same as Burnett). Struggling to remember anyone else. KT was from Glades Day (private school), not Glades Central. Missed out on Kelvin Benjamin

 

[maheo30]

Steve Shipp gets my vote. Was Bobby Sabalhause (sp?) a 5 star? Dude got to UF and suddenly forgot how to throw a football.

 

[Theologator]

I always thought Mitch Mustain was a huge bust. He was the #1 HS QB ahead of Stafford and Tebow. They went on to have great college careers and became 1st round draft picks. Mustain followed his HS coach Gus Malzahn to Arkansas where he started as a freshman handing off to Darren McFadden, Peyton Hillis and Felix Jones. He eventually lost the starting job and then transferred to USC where he sat behind Dirty Sanchez. I think he played a couple of years in the Arena league. What a bust.

I was just reading his Wikipedia page. Great minds...

His HS record is stunningly good. A lot of this depends on what is going on between the ears. The exponentially increasing complexities of the game plus life affect people differently. Same happens when they jump into the NFL.

 

[Theologator]

Mehhh... Hard to call Berlin a bust. He just got tired of waiting.

He wasn't a true bust. He did start a bowl game and eventually actually beat the Gators. But the discrepancy between the reality and the hype was almost as big as the Booty brothers.

 

[alcoholica]

Steve Shipp gets my vote. Was Bobby Sabalhause (sp?) a 5 star? Dude got to UF and suddenly forgot how to throw a football.

Sabalhouse had a low throwing motion and release point. SOS tried to change that and failed miserably.

 

[Gatorraid81]

He ended up not signing with us, but 5* Willie Williams has to be up there.

The #1 OLB in the nation was labeled the next Lawrence Taylor. The 5* was 6' 3" and 240 and ran a 4.3. He was a freak. He was also a walking disaster.

On his recruiting trip in Gainesville he sexually assaulted a girl, punched a guy in a club and set off three fire extinguishers in the hotel. He had 11 arrests in high school. Miami, because they're Miami, still signed him. When he signed with Miami he was on house arrest and wearing a monitoring device on his ankle.

He left Miami without making an impact and went to a community college in Los Angeles. He eventually found his way to Louisville, because it's Louisville. He was arrested again and kicked off the team. He ended up with a 15 year prison sentence in Kentucky. He is set to be released in 2023.

Trying to be another Lawrence Phillips

 

[Gator Fever]

Ronald Powell led the team in sacks his sophomore season, and suffered an ACL tear going into 2012. He wasn't a #1 overall type player like Clowney the year after Powell came out, but he was a solid player. I certainly wouldn't label him a bust.

He gets mentioned a lot due to the hype I guess he had coming in. He wasn't a bad player when he was on the field but people were wanting a real dominant player with his # 1 ranking. That was a real strong defensive class and Easley, Floyd and Elam became dominant players as 5 star recruits.

 

[Gatorraid81]

Here's a happy thread. What 5-star busts really surprised you? Who do you regard as 5-star busts for UF?

A few for UF:
John Brown
Torrey Davis
Brock Berlin

Nationally, Dillon Baxter is one that I was glad didn't sign with UF.

If Brown and Davis could've worked out we definitely would've been better suited to stuff that Bama run game in '09, they could've been a force in the middle. Berlin just wasn't the gamer that Grossman was. Spurrier gave Berlin every chance to beat Grossman out and couldn't do it. If I remember correctly Grossman was even suspended one spring for a week and he still couldn't pass him. He did start Spurrier's final game against Maryland cause Grossman missed curfew and Berlin looked good early on but when the game tightened a little, Spurrier put the gamer Grossman in and he led us to a blowout. Of course we all remember him leading that huge comeback against Zook and company down in Miami. All in all considering his hype, I would label Berlin as a bust too. Did he even play in the NFL?

 

[Gator Fever]

If Brown and Davis could've worked out we definitely would've been better suited to stuff that Bama run game in '09, they could've been a force in the middle. Berlin just wasn't the gamer that Grossman was. Spurrier gave Berlin every chance to beat Grossman out and couldn't do it. If I remember correctly Grossman was even suspended one spring for a week and he still couldn't pass him. He did start Spurrier's final game against Maryland cause Grossman missed curfew and Berlin looked good early on but when the game tightened a little, Spurrier put the gamer Grossman in and he led us to a blowout. Of course we all remember him leading that huge comeback against Zook and company down in Miami. All in all considering his hype, I would label Berlin as a bust too. Did he even play in the NFL?

Yep still can't believe Berlin did that against us while playing crappy in many other games that year for Miami.

 

[Thick&ThinG8r]

He ended up not signing with us, but 5* Willie Williams has to be up there.

The #1 OLB in the nation was labeled the next Lawrence Taylor. The 5* was 6' 3" and 240 and ran a 4.3. He was a freak. He was also a walking disaster.

On his recruiting trip in Gainesville he sexually assaulted a girl, punched a guy in a club and set off three fire extinguishers in the hotel. He had 11 arrests in high school. Miami, because they're Miami, still signed him. When he signed with Miami he was on house arrest and wearing a monitoring device on his ankle.

He left Miami without making an impact and went to a community college in Los Angeles. He eventually found his way to Louisville, because it's Louisville. He was arrested again and kicked off the team. He ended up with a 15 year prison sentence in Kentucky. He is set to be released in 2023.

You failed to mention Channing Crowder kicking his a$$ while he was on his official visit.

 

[AlexDaGator]

They've already been mentioned but our biggest busts have to be Scot Joslyn, Steve Shipp, and Bobby Sabelhaus. Not injured, not guys who played short of expectations...these dudes did absolutely nothing at UF.



Alex.

 

[NVGator]

He wasn't a future NBA player, but it's tough to call the guy who is probably #2 on the career assists list a bust.

Funny, I didn't have any problem with it at all. Just kind of rolled right off my tongue and fingertips. I'm sure others wouldn't find it tough to say either.

 

[GatorJ]

They've already been mentioned but our biggest busts have to be Scot Joslyn, Steve Shipp, and Bobby Sabelhaus. Not injured, not guys who played short of expectations...these dudes did absolutely nothing at UF.



Alex.

While he was not a five star, he was the second ranked safety in the country. Kyle Jackson. And while he may have not done "nothing" like the guys above. He effectively lost multiple games for us with his game play.

I'd rather have a five star not do anything on the field than have one lose games for us.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

I certainly wouldn't label him a bust.

I would certainly would not call anyone a bust who:

1. Is injured. Injuries are part of football.

2. Or regularly plays.

3. Or transfers because they are playing behind essentially the best player in college football and regularly plays at another big time program, ie Berlin.

4. Changes to a less valuable position and regularly plays.

Basically a bust would be someone who is highly rated yet does not have the ability to play at this level when he gets here. Not is injured, not has to play a different position, not is blocked by a better really good player.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

Funny, I didn't have any problem with it at all. Just kind of rolled right off my tongue and fingertips. I'm sure others wouldn't find it tough to say either.

I have to agree with Bernardo. A guy who regularly plays is not a bust. He was not as good as hyped, sure, but almost every player is not as good as hyped by recruiting services that regularly compare them to NBA stars.