Players who did not get a fair shake

#28
#28
#1fulmerite said:
Anyone not think A.J. Suggs got a fair deal?
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He had a chance. Too many sideline passes. Couldn't get the ball downfield. He certainly started... not that guy....


My example would be James Banks. He didn't give himself a fair shake. Cautionary tale of another young male failing to raise himself properly.

tennessee.rivals.com

VolReport - Memory Vol-T: Banks reflects on what might have been

Former Vol James Banks is one of the best athletes to have played at Tennessee. Banks reflects on a career he cut short.
tennessee.rivals.com tennessee.rivals.com
 
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#30
#30
Kevin Simon - would’ve probably been a UT legend if not for injuries
Chris Leake - had one of the quickest hooks for a QB I’ve ever seen. Stuck it out here even after his brother went to Florida and even lined up as a TE on an end of game kneel down
John Rattay — Highly rated QB in the same class as Clausen. Casey was the right call, but it seemed that decision was made before they ever hit campus
 
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#31
#31
ScornedPapaVol said:
He had a chance. Too many sideline passes. Couldn't get the ball downfield. He certainly started... not that guy....


My example would be James Banks. He didn't give himself a fair shake. Cautionary tale of another young male failing to raise himself properly.

tennessee.rivals.com

VolReport - Memory Vol-T: Banks reflects on what might have been

Former Vol James Banks is one of the best athletes to have played at Tennessee. Banks reflects on a career he cut short.
tennessee.rivals.com tennessee.rivals.com
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I watched a pickup basketball game in the Bubble once with a bunch of Lady Vols, football and basketball players, and James Banks was the best basketball player on the court
 
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#32
#32
Kevin Simon - would’ve probably been a UT legend if not for injuries
Chris Leake - had one of the quickest hooks for a QB I’ve ever seen. Stuck it out here even after his brother went to Florida and even lined up as a TE on an end of game kneel down
John Rattay — Highly rated QB in the same class as Clausen. Casey was the right call, but it seemed that decision was made before they ever hit campus
 
#33
#33
DaddyChad said:
Honestly he just had to finish out the season and he would’ve been drafted. He had a lot of people in his ear and in his head.
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As one who has been through being lied to, lied to, and lied to, it can phork up your head and emotions. Especially when it's done by someone you seriously trusted. If ever the adage of don't criticize someone until you have walked a mile in their moccasins applied, I'd say it applies to Hurd.
 
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#35
#35
YankeeVol said:
It's crazy that he was a 3rd round pick and Trey Smith was a 6th rounder
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Not crazy. Trey had a medical condition that made him a risky pick, despite his huge upside. A condition that could reassert itself. NFL is a business, you make the best investment decisions based on available data. Happy that Trey remains well, and doing what he loves. Still, the trepidation of teams to select him wasn't crazy. The team that did, took a risk that, fortunately for them, paid off.
 
#36
#36
BDP! said:
He didn’t have a future in the NFL as a WR either.
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It takes a lot of heart and self discipline to be a good NFL player. Lots of guys have the talent, small heart. Lots have heart and small talent. Then you have those guys that have or develop both and end up HoFers. Hurd had lots of talent, could have never paid for a drink or a meal in the State of Tennessee for the rest of his life. Now? I’m not sure he could find enough people in TN to put a squad together to cross the street to pee on him were he on fire.
 
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#37
#37
Hurd could have been an NFL RB but Butch’s offense was a horrible match for his skill set…imagine if Hurd had gone to Ohio State and lined up in the I. He’d of been in the Heisman hype and one of the first RBs picked. Butch took the second coming of Eddie George and make him an East/West runner looking for cut back seams. And to add insult to injury, he had the best possible RB for his offense and kept him second string.

Good coaches adjust their schemes to match their teams strengths - Butch would never be mistaken for a good coach.
 
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#42
#42
Sarms58 said:
Hurd could have been an NFL RB but Butch’s offense was a horrible match for his skill set…imagine if Hurd had gone to Ohio State and lined up in the I. He’d of been in the Heisman hype and one of the first RBs picked. Butch took the second coming of Eddie George and make him an East/West runner looking for cut back seams. And to add insult to injury, he had the best possible RB for his offense and kept him second string.

Good coaches adjust their schemes to match their teams strengths - Butch would never be mistaken for a good coach.
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Hurd had like 50 rushes for Baylor almost exclusively out of the I and averaged 4.4ypc. Would Hurd have had more success running primarily out of the I here? Probably. But just running off into the distance with Heisman (anywhere) talk is pretty dubious.

We have a large pool of film that shows him to have had limited game breaking ability. He was big and strong with good athletic ability and great hands which of course is all very nice but isn't some special recipe for greatness from the RB position. OTOH guys that are 6'4" 226lb with adequate speed (4.64 pro day) with great hands and actual yak instincts are a bit of an outlier. That's why I think he made the change to wr and I personally think it was the right call. Shame injury kept us from seeing how that might have worked out in the NFL.
 
#47
#47
Any lineman coached by Will Friend

Wright went from not draftable under Friend to Top 10 pick with competent coaching

Trey Smith fell partially due to poor technique acquired from Friend. Friend cost him some $$$$.

Cade Mays went from D1 or D2 pick to undraftable with 1 year of Friend. He did rehab enough to get drafted with competent coaching the next year.

Wanya Morris went from not draftable to D2 pick after leaving Friend...
 
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#48
#48
Hairy Vols said:
Same. But I’m glad is now a 2x Super Bowl champ and will likely get more. Man deserves it
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Trey benefited from where he went. Andy Heck is one of the best, if not the best, OL coach in the NFL. Trey had to unlearn a lot of bad coaching that he acquired his last three years at Tennessee....
 
#50
#50
VOLINVONORE said:
He had a lot of good players around, but he put the ball where it was needed to make completions. It may have been the differences in high school and SEC defenses.
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Yes for sure. Also when he played he looked to me like he was moving in sand. Just too slow
 
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