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Biggest Disappointment In Football

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Troy Chimes

Scout Team
Aug 14, 2007
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Knoxville, TN
I'm sorry if this subject had been done.
I would have to say of all the big "blue chip recruits" we've had at BAMA. I would say that Billy Ray was the biggest bust we've ever had at Alabama. I can remember people saying he was the next Joe Namath.:rolleyes: What ever happen to that guy?
 
Re: Biggest Bust In Recruiting (Football)

Total teaser! I thought you were referencing the escort scandal back a few years at Colorado. :)

Seriously, Albert Means was a pretty big bust.
 
Re: Biggest Bust In Recruiting (Football)

....on Billy Ray...

set some records at Duke under the superior one, maybe won a championship too.
We've had linemen bust a move (so to speak) much worse that Billy Ray.
 
Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

First and foremost, I think we should all agree to not list players who were academic casualties. Regardless of how highly-touted those players were, they never made it on campus and no one knows whether or not they were really any good or if it was just all hype.

Now for a few of the true busts off of the top of my head:

Billy Ray: People thought this kid was the second coming of Joe Namath, but it never worked out. He played a little, but only slightly, and ultimately transferred to Duke. At Duke, he set a bunch of passing records under Spurrier and won the ACC.

Brandon Miree: Big-time recruit, and after Shaun left he said that Miree would make us forget about him. Obviously, didn't work out, and he transferred to Pitt. A decent player, actually, but never as good as expected, and he never did much of anything for us.

Albert Means: Even had there been no recruiting scandal, Means was still a massive bust. People thought this guy was one of the best prep linemen ever, and he wasn't even an average college player. Even after he transferred to Memphis, he was a below average player even in C-USA. The guy had all of the agility of an 18-wheeler. Again, recruiting scandal aside, total bust.

Ray Hudson: Burner out of Florida who just never lived up to the hype. He rode the bench all the way until his senior year, and just when it looked like he was going to turn it on, he had a career-ending knee injury against Kentucky in 2004.

Dante Ellington: Another huge offensive line recruit, supposed to be a superstar. He showed some flashes, but generally speaking he wasn't a very good player. Bust.

Leslie Williams: Another line bust from the '99 class. Williams was recruited out of high school and was thought to be one of the top edge pass rushers in the country. We all thought we had a sack machine in the making. Problem was, he could never put on any weight, and was smaller than some of the linebackers. He stayed at Alabama his entire career, but rarely played.

Tarry Givens: Out of Tallahassee, he had huge size and speed and recruiting gurus thought he was a Randy Moss clone. 'Bama fans were stunned when we got him because this was during a time that FSU got essentially every top offensive recruit in the country. He played wide receiver at 'Bama for about three years, but couldn't run a route or catch the ball with any consistency. We tried him at tight end, and shortly thereafter he quit.

Anthony Bryant: Supposedly a dominating interior defensive lineman, Bryant was always overweight and had no agility. He rarely started, and going into his senior season he was beaten out by an undersized walk-on. We thought he'd be an All-American, and he couldn't even start on a team with no talent or depth at his position.

Thurman Ward: Most thought it was a great recruiting coup when we got Ward out of Starkville. He was big for a DB and had blazing speed, but he never did much. He had an interception return for a touchdown against Arkansas in 2001, but was then moved to offense by Fran, moved back to defense by Shula, and ultimately quit before his senior season.

Von Ewing: The second biggest signee in 2001, everyone thought he was going to be the next Chris Samuels. He never started a game, and finally quit football so he could be a full-time actor.
 
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Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

These two might not make everybody list, but they both make mine: Tyler Watts, and Freddie Kitchens.

Watts, because he had a good amount of hype and never delievered and wa forced to rotationw ith Andrew Zow. And Kitchens could never get the difference, always figuring that he must break his WR hands from 10 feet away, and underthrow his deep passed. To me, he was one of the dumbest players Alabama has had in a long time.
 
Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

My biggest disappointment in Alabama recruiting is not missing out on any prospects or signees that did not qualify. My biggest disappointment is what the Alabama coaches Mike DuBose, Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams did or didn't do while recruiting the 2000 class. I don't care who knew what and when, what is important is what the NCAA eventually did to Bama because of what happened while they were recruiting for UA. That DuBose, Cottrell, Williams 2000 signing class included Albert Means and later NCAA sanctions and probation. That is devastating to me.

I have three big names to list of signee disappiontments.
DE David Paine (2000 class)
DT Mac Tyler (2000 class)
ATH Titus Ryan (2002 class)

All three of those signees could have had a real impact if they would have made it into UA.

As far as biggest disappointment in missing out on a prospect that would have to be RB Carnell 'Cadillac' Williams. Not only was he a great RB which Bama could have most definitely used he went to Auburn.
 
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Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

Troy Chimes said:
I'm sorry if this subject had been done.
I would have to say of all the big "blue chip recruits" we've had at BAMA. I would say that Billy Ray was the biggest bust we've ever had at Alabama. I can remember people saying he was the next Joe Namath.:rolleyes: What ever happen to that guy?
Click to expand...

I always chuckle when I read or hear someone say that Billy Ray was a Bust .
2-time All-ACC QB
Set Duke & ACC passing records
Played pro ball in the CFL

While he wasn't the second coming of Namath , Stabler or Todd at Bama , he was everything he was supposed to be . I just think many of our fans are bitter or dissapointed that he didn't reach his highs while wearing Crimson . He was a proven stud at the position .
 
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Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

Charlie Dare :p_eek:
Josh Swords
Gene Newberry
 
Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

Vince Sutton, from back in the early/mid eighties. He could throw the ball a country mile but that was it--no accuracy whatsoever as I recall. He turned out to be a total bust...
 
Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

deliveryman35 said:
Vince Sutton, from back in the early/mid eighties. He could throw the ball a country mile but that was it--no accuracy whatsoever as I recall. He turned out to be a total bust...
Click to expand...

Disappointment? Certainly. Total Bust? Hmmm. As I recall, came in at QB and won a game against Kentucky we had no business winning. Thank you for that, Vincenzo.

Odd to think of that recruiting class: Billy Ray out of Atlanta, Vince Sutton of of Lafayette, Ga., and Jeff Dunn out of Greensboro

The three best QBs in the South that year, and we got them all. Then little known Gary Hollingsworth has more impact than Ray, Sutton and Dunn combined. Either Perkins was an overrated judge of talent, or Homer Smith who coached Gary to the SEC Player of the Year was that good.

The former may be true. The latter almost certainly is.
 
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Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

What about those 2 or 3 guys out of Bolles HS in FL? I cant even remember their names but its seems like I remember they were the it. Never started a game.

Oh, here is another one - Bart Raulston.
 
Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

CrimsonEyeshade said:
Disappointment? Certainly. Total Bust? Hmmm. As I recall, came in at QB and won a game against Kentucky we had no business winning. Thank you for that, Vincenzo.

Odd to think of that recruiting class: Billy Ray out of Atlanta, Vince Sutton of of Lafayette, Ga., and Jeff Dunn out of Greensboro

The three best QBs in the South that year, and we got them all. Then little known Gary Hollingsworth has more impact than Ray, Sutton and Dunn combined. Either Perkins was an overrated judge of talent, or Homer Smith who coached Gary to the SEC Player of the Year was that good.

The former may be true. The latter almost certainly is.
Click to expand...

Since when should we NOT beat Kentucky in football?? And by the way, I don't recall Vince being around at that time....could be wrong, but I thought another qb was responsible for our win in Lexington in '88(David Smith???)...So I am not sure what you are referring to...
 
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Re: Biggest Disappointment In Recruiting (Football)

A bit of discussion about some of these players...

Billy Ray: This guy was not a bust. He was hyped to be very good, and he was very good... just not for Alabama. When he transferred to Duke, he did extremely well. Aside from Weurffel, he may very well have been the best QB that Spurrier ever had.

Freddie Kitchens: To put it mildly, Freddie never lived up to the hype. He had a huge arm, but nothing else. He had no accuracy whatsoever, he held onto the ball entirely too long, and his work ethic was, um, questionable at best. Freddie wasn't outright terrible, and would make some occasional great throws, but on a consistent basis he never performed at a particularly high level.

Vince Sutton: This guy was an athletic wonder... a Vince Young type player. He had good size, great speed, and a huge arm. Unfortunately, he was never an accurate passer, and his decision making was always shaky. As a result, he never really bloomed into what a lot that he would be. He was a good example of a guy with great raw tools, but one who never developed those raw tools into the abilities required to put up a lot of production. Still, though, he wasn't really a bust. He played well for us at times, and he singlehandedly won us the game against Kentucky in Lexington in 1988. We trailed 17-0 at halftime, and he rallied us back with a last-second game-winning drive to win 31-27. Click here to go back to that day and you'll remember just what kind of athlete he was.

Pierre Goode: To call Goode a bust is so ridiculously absurd it's hard to even fathom. He looked incredible, and then an extremely esrious knee injury struck. He still fought back through a lot of pain and ended up contributing for the team. You might as well call Tyrone Prothro a bust. And for those of you with short memory calling him a bust, perhaps you would do well to remember the 90 yard touchdown catch he had against Tennessee in 1987 that really buried them under. Don't remember that game? Well, ask a Tennessee fan, I bet they will... that cost them a berth in the Sugar Bowl and a share of the SEC Championship.

Tyler Watts: By no stretch of the imagination should Tyler Watts be considered a bust. He wasn't as good as he was hyped to be, but he still had a great career at Alabama. As a freshman in 1999, he played a key role backing up Zow, and his third down conversion against Florida in the SEC Championship Game was probably the single biggest changing point of that game. We were up only 15-7 with over twelve minutes to go, and it looked like Florida would get the ball back with us facing a third and long inside our own ten yard line. Watts dropped back to pass, but had a great scramble for the first down -- two plays, Freddie Milons zig-zagged 70 yards for a touchdown to put it away. His 2000 season was a disappointment because of injury, but he ran the option very well in 2001 and 2002 for Franchione. He was never near the passer we thought he would be, but he was still a fine player.
 
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