Players who did not get a fair shake

Casey Clausen. Poor guy's only crime was he had to follow Peyton and Tee. Fans never fully embraced him and never truly appreciated how great he was until long after he was gone.
Casey Clausen remains one of the winningest quarterbacks in Tennessee football history—and he stands alone as the winningest Vols QB in true road games, owning a remarkable 14-1 record in hostile stadiums. "The Iceman" logged at least one win as UT's starting quarterback against eight of the 10 SEC opponents he faced during his career (he never played Ole Miss). He led the Big Orange to four wins over Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt, three wins over Alabama and Arkansas and a pair of victories against Florida. At the conclusion of his collegiate career, he ranked second in most of Tennessee's career passing records.
 
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I don’t follow much recruiting outside of UT but is it common for 5 star QBs to fall that far? Or is he like a once in a decade bust? I mean to go from a 5 star at an SEC program to UNLV to a walk-on at Louisville without any off the field issues or injuries (or at least none that I know of) seems pretty wild. Do you think he was just surrounded by so much talent in high school that he was misjudged?

For some reason, I thought Bailey was only a 4 star.

While I haven't crunched the numbers, to me anyway-5 star QBS seem like maybe a 50/50 shot. Maybe 60/40 on the positive side.

As you say, some get in trouble

Others just don't end up developing any further. Like it or not, we have signed 3 VERY high end QBS in the last few years.

From a math standpoint, all of them simply cannot work out and become superstars-here anyway.
 
Shy Tuttle.

Felt like he was about to break out then took that cheap shot. Season cut short again soph year. Went UDFA. Managed to make an NFL career but always felt like he was on the verge of being special. And the hit was definitely unfair.
 
Nate Peterson comes to mind...Transfered to Pitt, Played well and got drafted and I believe is still in the NFL as a backup?
 
IIRC Jalen Hurd wanted to switch positions because he knew he didn't have a future at RB in the NFL, and Butch said too bad so sad.
In Butch’s defense, Hurd was an awesome RB here. And IMO too many outside voices influenced that discord. I think people would be singing a different tune nowadays.
 
Nate Peterson comes to mind...Transfered to Pitt, Played well and got drafted and I believe is still in the NFL as a backup?
He has overachieved for sure. But doesn’t he have the worst active passer rating of any current NFL QB? Didn’t he also have one of the worst games in history?
 
In Butch’s defense, Hurd was an awesome RB here. And IMO too many outside voices influenced that discord. I think people would be singing a different tune nowadays.
It absolutely irks me how close Hurd came to being the all-time leading rusher here and then he up and transferred. I really wish he would've stuck it out. He would've been remembered so well here if he hadn't left.
 
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As I look over the posts here on VN, it seems each year we (get) players who are deemed to be program changers; some are transfers and some are HS and JUCO recruits.

Not stating any criteria but asking, who are your top three candidates of players who did not seem to get a fair shake?

For me: Joey Matthews
Harrison Bailey
Brandon Stewart (Peyton was the correct choice)

I am QB heavy on my list but, I also think had Fulmer pushed, Jerry Colquit might have gotten his Sr year back. Also, Jalen Hurd could be on this list had Jones ran the I formation.
Nathan Peterman. Fumbled 6 snaps against FL, was benched then made it to the League
 
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Nathan Peterman. Fumbled 6 snaps against FL, was benched then made it to the League
Glad we had Dobbs and Dobbs did what he did but, after reading Peterman’s wiki, it shows Jones had even less of an idea about coaching and talent than I thought.
 
Coach Pruitt screwed my nephew Brandon Johnson. He didn't believe in him. Its crazy he only caught one touchdown at Tennessee but goes to UCF and catches 11 touchdowns. Now he is thriving with the Denver Broncos. I wonder what Coach Pruitt doing right now.
Yes he did. Brandon was a quality WR.
 

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