Barnett, Malone, and Jennings were all rated 4*. I blame Jones for what happened with Hurd. At the end, Hurd's actions looked bad but NO competent leader lets a situation get to that point. He went from a die hard homer Vol... the kind you want and UGA gets every year to someone who couldn't get away fast enough. That is a failure of leadership and management of players. In fact, you can blame Jones for the failures of several players. Wharton became a very good WR for Cal. Dewayne Hendrix who apparently couldn't tolerate Jones' coaching style moved on to Pitt and then the NFL. Daniel Helm transferred to Duke and then got drafted.
This is part of why I think Jones in spite of a couple of good years was the worst coach UT has had after Fulmer. The others failed without much talent to work with... he failed with embarrassing amounts of talent even after you subtract the guys who left because his "culture" was toxic.
I don't think the culture under Jones was due to players- legacy or otherwise. He was a used car salesman who thought he was a football innovator and somehow mistook clichés for leadership.
The one thing I like best about Heupel is his apparent leadership and genuine love for his players.
There were some pretty "lively" conversations around here over attrition and injuries. I was in a minority arguing that attrition and high injury rates were both a function of coaching decisions and philosophy that ultimately come back to the HC. Many still wanted to believe that Jones was the right guy who just needed more time.
As you go down the list, there weren't many outright busts and definitely not an unusual number. There are always guys who do not live up to the hype but that was a very talented class by any measure. I was amazed at the number that actually spent some time with an NFL club- Malone, Hurd, Hendrix, Helm, Barnett, Berry, Wolf, Gaulden, Johnson, and Moseley. One third isn't bad. About 2/3 were starters or significant contributors for UT or another high level program.
