Best College Player whose talent never translated into the Pro's

[Senator]

I watched a few classic college games on ESPN classic and was struck how many "super" players who dominated the great games never translated and played in the pro's.

I thought it might be a good topic to discuss some of these. The guy I was very impressed with was Turner Gill. He seemed to have something special.

[SegRat]

Lawrence Phillips

[IMetTrentGreen]

major "the legend" applewhite
archie "my ol does the hard work for me" griffin
brian "they test for steroids in the nfl" bozworth
andre "we're a product" ware and david "of the system" klingler
eric "couldn't even pass in middle school" crouch
soon to be willis mcgahee, aka archie griffin 2

[VPI97]

WVU's Major Harris - 10 years ahead of his time.

[Butter]

Originally posted by IMetTrentGreen
brian "they test for steroids in the nfl" bozworth

I was thinking that for Tony Mandarich.

How about Steve "knee blowout" Emtman?

[Fritz]

according to CNNSI's (http://www.collegefootballnews.com/Top_100_Players/Top%20100%20Players.htm) top 100 college players, George Gipp (http://www.collegefootballnews.com/Top_100_Players/Top_100_Players_4_George_Gipp.htm) is the greatest collegiate never to strike it big in the pros. Of course, he was dead.

Ron Dayne (http://www.collegefootballnews.com/Top_100_Players/Top_100_Players_12_Ron_Dayne.htm) gets the honors of the highest on their list to not make an impact, but he still has time.

Archie Griffin (http://www.collegefootballnews.com/Top_100_Players/Top_100_Players_15_Archie_Griffin.htm) is the highest that played a full career below the potential that people saw when he came out of college.

[SunDancer]

Ryan Leaf?

[Sloan]

Chuck Long

[cuervo72]

Art Schlichter, who's real talent was in making bad bets.

[Coffee Warlord]

Rick Mirer

[Senator]

Another guy I was watching was Darian Hagan from the 89 Colorado team. He was the QB. He was like a men among boys, but you never heard from him after that season.

[Bearcat729]

All Bengals 1st round draft picks from 1990 to today

[Samdari]

I would have to put Ernie Davis ahead of George Gipp for guys who died before their pro careers. For CNNSI to have Gipp as the fourth best college player ever is ridiculous, he is not even the fourth best tailback to ever play at Notre Dame. That list is not even good enough for a VH-1 special.

Hugh Green was also a player who came to my mind.

EDIT: There/They're/Their

[Abe Sargent]

Major Harris.

-Anxiety

[GrantDawg]

*insert Penn State Running back here*

[GrantDawg]

*insert Florida Quarterback here*

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Samdari
I would have to put Ernie Davis ahead of George Gipp for guys who died before their pro careers. For CNNSI to have Gipp as the fourth best college player ever is ridiculous, he is not even the fourth best tailback to ever play at Notre Dame. That list is not even good enough for a VH-1 special.


did you read the bio?

"Gipp was more than just the focus of the famous Knute Rockne speech or the subject of a Ronald Reagan movie, he was the greatest all-around player to ever play college football as a great runner, passer, defensive back, punter, kicker and kick returner "

[TroyF]

A few names who haven't been mentioned:

Danny Weurfal and Charlie Ward (obviously different reasons, but both were super college players)
Marcus Nash
Eric Bienemy

TroyF

[Franklinnoble]

Bo Jackson....

Just think of what might have been...

Oh, and I'd like to add to the list:

- Steve Emtman (spelling help, please.... too early in the morning)
- Quentin Coryatt
- Desmond Howard
- Heath Shuler

[MrBug708]

Anyone the Bengals drafted applies here

[Franklinnoble]

Jake Plummer is running out of time to avoid being on this list, too...

[Bee]

More of a high school superstar since he only played 1 year in college, but Marcus Dupree.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
- Desmond Howard


not the star people thought he would be, but a long career and a superbowl MVP. I would take that.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by Fritz
not the star people thought he would be, but a long career and a superbowl MVP. I would take that.

All I know was that he sucked for the Redskins when they first drafted him. He had a long career, distinguished only by that one game, but for the most part, he never really was the all-pro superstar that one would have expected him to be coming out of college.

Kind of reminds me of Rocket Ismail...

[Toddzilla]

I'm kinda partial to Jim Druckenmiller

[TroyF]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
All I know was that he sucked for the Redskins when they first drafted him. He had a long career, distinguished only by that one game, but for the most part, he never really was the all-pro superstar that one would have expected him to be coming out of college.

Kind of reminds me of Rocket Ismail...

The funny thing about that is Desmond actually had a pretty nice year the last year he was with the Redskins. 40 catches, 727 yards (18.2 average) 5TD's.

You say he had that "one game", but in the '96 season he shattered the league record for punt return yardage in a season. (875-692)

He was a MAJOR reason GB went to that Super Bowl. He was a lot more than that "one game". Beyond that, Desmond ended up with over 7000 total yards in his career. He never was the prolific pass catcher many expected him to be, but he doesn't belong in a conversation with Ryan Leaf either.

TroyF

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by TroyF
The funny thing about that is Desmond actually had a pretty nice year the last year he was with the Redskins. 40 catches, 727 yards (18.2 average) 5TD's.

You say he had that "one game", but in the '96 season he shattered the league record for punt return yardage in a season. (875-692)

He was a MAJOR reason GB went to that Super Bowl. He was a lot more than that "one game". Beyond that, Desmond ended up with over 7000 total yards in his career. He never was the prolific pass catcher many expected him to be, but he doesn't belong in a conversation with Ryan Leaf either.

TroyF

Maybe he's not as huge a bust as Leaf, but, like so many other Heisman trophy winners, he was crowned as the best college football player in the land, and never achieved a similar level of acclaim in the pros... that's all I was saying.

[The_herd]

Originally posted by VPI97
WVU's Major Harris - 10 years ahead of his time.

Hit the nail on the head. This guy would be a certain 1st rounder if he came out now. Instead, he was a 12th round pick by the Raiders because people said he was better suited for the CFL.

I've played basketball with him and had a chance to see him and a few other old WVU players play against an arena league team when Charleston was lobbying for a team. The man still has it, flat out an incredible athlete.

Was probably the closest thing we'll see to Mike Vick, 12 years before Vick was even on the mind of sports fans.

[Bee]

Major made a mistake coming out early. He had financial reasons, but he wasn't ready. If he'd had another year in college, he might have been able to get a chance in the NFL and done something with it.

[VPI97]

Originally posted by Toddzilla
I'm kinda partial to Jim Druckenmiller Ugh

[The_herd]

Originally posted by Bee
Major made a mistake coming out early. He had financial reasons, but he wasn't ready. If he'd had another year in college, he might have been able to get a chance in the NFL and done something with it.

Agreed, but in todays NFL, with that kind of potential, he still goes in the 1st round.

It really is sad, because he's one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

[TLK]

Aundray Bruce

[timmynausea]

I posted about the Maj on another thread in here about "your future looks bright to me..." or something like that.
He was incredible. His teammate WR Reggie Rembert was an equally big bust. He might've been the first Bengals first rounder to be such a big bust.
The lions have also had a ton of busts. After Barry Sanders a lot of their first rounders have been average or worse. (Andre Ware, etc.)
Another WVU bust was Brian Jozwiak. He was a top ten pick in the mid-eighties and never did much.

[JeeberD]

Rocky Perez
Brian Natkin

[Bee]

Reggie Rembert was a colossal A-hole. I didn't get along with him very well at all. I think he ended up in jail after his brief time with the Bengals. I never thought he was all that talented, but he benefited a lot from playing on a pretty talented offense.

[timmynausea]

Rembert had all the tools to be a huge star. He was 6'5'' 4.3 or 4.4 40 time, had a good vertical leap and excellent body control. This was back before there were too many guys with those kinds of tools. He maybe wasn't the smartest guy around. On cincinnatti talk radio they mainly talked about how he couldn't learn the offense and he was in and out of rehab places for alcohol problems.

[Bee]

Yep, Reggie was tall and fast and pretty athletic, but he wasn't a very good football player. He used to drop balls in practice all the time and he hardly ever ran the right routes (of course, Major usually ended up making things up on the field anyway :D). Off the field, Major was a great guy but Reggie wasn't. Reggie treated everyone like crap and he had a major attitude problem.

[thirdandlong]

Tony Mandarich has to get my vote. He was surrounded by SO much hype. Everyone who watched sport center saw clip after clip of this guy making spectacular blocks, sometimes two or three pancake type blocks on the same play. He was supposed to be Superman. He was supposed to protect Brett Favre's backside for the next 10 years. Instead the only package he was good enough to play in was the Packers "Double Jumbo" formation. Double Jumbo was a 4TE set.

With a lot of these guys mentioned above were great atheletes but a lot of people didn't think they would translate to the NFL. Namely guys like Charlie Ward. Also not mentioned, and not a spectacular athelete, but someone who put up great numbers in college, David Klingler.

[dawgfan]

Regarding Steve Emtman, there's no doubt that given his draft status (#1 pick overall) and mediocre career that his NFL days did not live up to his collegiate performance.

However, I don't think this was due to a lack of talent. Before he blew his knees out with Indianapolis, he was playing quite well. We'll never know how he'd have done had he stayed healthier, and injuries are part of the game, but I think Emtman was a case of injuries decimating his ability to play rather than him being overrated.

[Franklinnoble]

I think anyone drafted by the Bengals should be granted clemency from this list, as their professional fates were doomed from the start.

[Bee]

Klingler is a good one. Along the same lines you could make a case for Andre Ware.

Edit: fixed typo.

[Bonegavel]

Originally posted by Bee
Klinger is a good one. Along the same lines you could make a case for Andre Ware.

Do you mean Klingler?

I say Brian Bosworth. And his movie sucked too.

[Bee]

Originally posted by BoneGavel
Do you mean Klingler?

I say Brian Bosworth. And his movie sucked too.

yep. typo.

[Draft Dodger]

my vote is for a duo - Johnnie Morton (USC) and J.J. Stokes (UCLA). I remember some talk that these guys would be dueling to be the top receivers in the NFL for years to come. Neither have been terrible, but neither quite became the superstar that I thought they might?

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by TheLionKing
Aundray Bruce


*shiver*

[Bonegavel]

Originally posted by Bee
yep. typo.

Only reason I pointed this out is that my last name is Klinger and I played only 2 years of college ball (then dropped out) and I thought I may have made an unknown impact. :D

[korme]

Originally posted by TroyF
A few names who haven't been mentioned:

Danny Weurfal and Charlie Ward (obviously different reasons, but both were super college players)
Marcus Nash
Eric Bienemy

TroyF

Bienemy was a long time reserve for us and I never knew he was a great college player?

Ki-Jana Carter. He was supposed to be our future.

[Franklinnoble]

Tim Couch

[Bee]

Originally posted by BoneGavel
Only reason I pointed this out is that my last name is Klinger and I played only 2 years of college ball (then dropped out) and I thought I may have made an unknown impact. :D

Where did you play?

I played a year at WV Tech (very small school) and then transferred to WVU and played 2 seasons. I was too good for Tech and not good enough for WVU. :D

[Vegas Vic]

Josh Heupel.

Great college QB and leader, but couldn't even make an NFL roster as a back-up.

[KevinNU7]

Charlie Ward

[digamma]

I haven't seen Tommie Frazier mentioned yet. His performance against Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl (1995 season) is probably the best game I've seen played by an individual.

[Bonegavel]

Originally posted by Bee
Where did you play?

I played a year at WV Tech (very small school) and then transferred to WVU and played 2 seasons. I was too good for Tech and not good enough for WVU. :D

I played for 2 years at UVA (battle of the virginia's) from 88-90. I was good enough, but drank too much and had little discipline. When your GPA hits 1.9, the dean doesn't appreciate that too much. I finally got my ass back to school and graduated with a 3.87 in Information Systems. Paying for school yourself makes you appreciate it a bit more.

[tucker342]

Ryan Leaf was the first one that came to mind for me

[Hawglaw]

How about Blair Thomas? He was a pretty big bust as well as Vaughn Dunbar...

[MrBug708]

Heupel was an above average QB


Kris Farris was a bust. Most outlander trophy winners don't get cut. But he had injury problems

[MrBug708]

Originally posted by digamma
I haven't seen Tommie Frazier mentioned yet. His performance against Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl (1995 season) is probably the best game I've seen played by an individual.


Digamma, that was an awesome game, but he had a medical crisis (blood clot) in his leg I believe that made it too painful to play.

[G-Man]

Originally posted by GrantDawg
*insert Penn State Running back here*

Do the names Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell mean anything to you?

[digamma]

Originally posted by MrBug708
Digamma, that was an awesome game, but he had a medical crisis (blood clot) in his leg I believe that made it too painful to play.

I guess I had forgotten that. Really too bad. It would have been interesting to see if he could make the transition from option qb who can throw well to NFL quarterback. I think he had more size and speed than others in this mold, but guys like Charlie Ward and Joe Hamilton never really got a look. You can maybe throw Crouch into that bunch as well.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by G-Man
Do the names Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell mean anything to you?

Nope. They play this century? :)

[Leonidas]

Ron Powlus, Rick Mirer

Speaking of Reggie Rembert, that bastard beat me out for the final spot in the state high jump finals my junior year. I finished 5th, he was 4th, only 4 went. We tied on heighth, he had one less miss.

[Craptacular]

Originally posted by thirdandlong
Tony Mandarich has to get my vote. He was surrounded by SO much hype. Everyone who watched sport center saw clip after clip of this guy making spectacular blocks, sometimes two or three pancake type blocks on the same play. He was supposed to be Superman. He was supposed to protect Brett Favre's backside for the next 10 years. Instead the only package he was good enough to play in was the Packers "Double Jumbo" formation. Double Jumbo was a 4TE set.


Agreed, except for the part about protecting Favre's backside. Favre was starting his junior year of college when Tony was drafted.

[The_herd]

Originally posted by Craptacular
Agreed, except for the part about protecting Favre's backside. Favre was starting his junior year of college when Tony was drafted.

That was gonna be Don Majikowski's (no clue how to spell it) backside.

[Tasan]

How much hype would Charlie Ward get these days after all the Vick madness? I bet he's be at least a first day pick, if not a first round pick.

[mtolson]

I'll stick to backs:

Amp Lee
Dexter Carter
Greg Hill
Errict Rhett
Ethan Horton
Lorenzo Hampton
Reggie Dupard
Paul Palmer
D.J. Dozier

Gotta add my most hyped but flopped of all time:

Todd Marinovich
Dan McGuire

[mtolson]

Originally posted by G-Man
Do the names Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell mean anything to you?

Granted, they were great (may even add Gary Brown to the list) but Penn State RB flops were real big flops:

D.J. "I think I wanna play baseball" Dozier
Blair Thomas
Ki-Jana Carter
Curt Enis

The same could probably said for Florida State and Florida as well though.

[Noble_Platypus]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
I was thinking that for Tony Mandarich.

How about Steve "knee blowout" Emtman?

I dont think its fair to include someone who got hurt like Emtman. I saw him play as a rookie and he was an animal until he blew out his knee. Its not like he sucked just beacuse he couldnt make the transition like many of the players listed here.

[General Mike]

Curtis Enis gets my vote.

And as far as Florida/ Florida State backs go, while they might not have had the success levels of RBs from Georgia or USC, They've had some top pro RBs in Emmitt Smith, Fred Taylor, and Warrick Dunn plus Edgar Bennett had a few good years before injuries took their toll on him. Marion Butts had some good years between the Chargers and the Jaguars.

Right now, in general, if I had to choose between a Big 10 and an SEC running back, I'm gonna go with the SEC back every day of the week.

[The_herd]

Alonzo Highsmith is another, was supposed to be one of the best running backs to ever come out of highschool but didn't live up to the hype after leaving Miami. It was partially due to knee injuries, but he didn't look like a #3 pick before they became an issue.

[AnalBumCover]

The entire team from 1995 Men's Bastketball Champion UCLA Bruins.

Oh wait... we're only talking football right now...

[3ric]

Mike Rozier? Another Heisman winner.

[MrBug708]

Originally posted by AnalBumCover
The entire team from 1995 Men's Bastketball Champion UCLA Bruins.

Oh wait... we're only talking football right now...


Ouch. Well Ed O'Bannon would have made a good SF< but everyone wanted to use him as a SG

[IMetTrentGreen]

carson palmer

[thirdandlong]

Originally posted by Craptacular
Agreed, except for the part about protecting Favre's backside. Favre was starting his junior year of college when Tony was drafted.

Damn I was gonna check that out, but I really figured that Favre had to be there back then. Guess I missed by a few years. Either that or Mandarich was drafter farther back than I thought. I am getting old.

[clintl]

No votes for Marc Wilson? That guy threw perfect passes to the players wearing the other jersey more often than he threw to his own receivers. Or at least it seemed that way.

[Craptacular]

Originally posted by thirdandlong
Damn I was gonna check that out, but I really figured that Favre had to be there back then. Guess I missed by a few years. Either that or Mandarich was drafter farther back than I thought. I am getting old.

I always *love* to think about the 1989 draft:
#1 - Troy Aikman
#2 - Tony Mandarich
#3 - Barry Sanders
#4 - Derrick Thomas
#5 - Deion Sanders

Ouch! :(

[Leonidas]

I just realized no one has proposed The Triumverate of Heisman QB Flops: Andre Ware, Gino Torretta, and Danny Weurfel. Throw in Eric Crouch and you have a foursome, but no one really expected him to make it anyway so I'm not sure if he counts.

[Ragone]

Ah weird that these players weren't mentioned

Rashaan Salaam!
Trev Alberts
Charles Johnson
Yatil "My acl is made of Crepe Paper" Green

[Senator]

Good call on Trev Alberts. He was supposed to be the next Dick Butkus.

[G-Man]

Does anyone remember Gary Beban?

[G-Man]

Or Pat Sullivan?

[Bonegavel]

Originally posted by Leonidas
I just realized no one has proposed The Triumverate of Heisman QB Flops: Andre Ware, Gino Torretta, and Danny Weurfel. Throw in Eric Crouch and you have a foursome, but no one really expected him to make it anyway so I'm not sure if he counts.

I believe all but Gino was mentioned already.

[dawgfan]

Originally posted by G-Man
Does anyone remember Gary Beban?

Heh, or Terry Baker?

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm going to go with Troy Davis, only because he hasn't been mentioned yet. He happens to be tearing up the CFL right now, though.

Imagine that the Saints briefly had one year's Heisman winner AND Heisman runner-up at the same time. Of course, those players were Wuerffel and Davis.

[Leonidas]

Originally posted by Ragone
Ah weird that these players weren't mentioned

Rashaan Salaam!
Trev Alberts
Charles Johnson
Yatil "My acl is made of Crepe Paper" Green

I suppose Trev Alberts the broadcaster has really solidified his role as a bust.

[timmynausea]

Originally posted by Leonidas
I suppose Trev Alberts the broadcaster has really solidified his role as a bust.
He's actually been more of a bust as a broadcaster. He's looking more and more like the next Lee Corso without even the periodic unintentional humor. It's a damn shame..... That he's on tv and I have to listen to him talk, I mean.

[SarasotaHusker]

Originally posted by timmynausea
He's actually been more of a bust as a broadcaster. He's looking more and more like the next Lee Corso without even the periodic unintentional humor. It's a damn shame..... That he's on tv and I have to listen to him talk, I mean.

Wrong. Trev is pretty solid on ESPN. He gets dragged down by the know-nothing clown Mark May, who can't put together a coherent thought to save his life, and instead spends all of his air-time disagreeing with whatever Trev Alberts says.

If Trev said, "Mark, you were a solid offensive lineman in the NFL," May would respond, "you're wrong Trev--I sucked." That's his entire repertoire: disagree with whatever Trev Alberts says.

[General Mike]

Marco Battaglia, TE, Rutgers

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally posted by General Mike
Marco Battaglia, TE, Rutgers

Good call on that one. Nice catch, General Mike!

[ISiddiqui]

Doug Flutie (I'll limit the original question to a player whose talent never translated into the NFL), who may also have been victimized by unfair expectations of what a QB was supposed to be.

[larrymcg421]

I haven't seen anyone mention Sammie Smith yet.