Biggest bust as a highly touted recruit.

[Voldog1998]

Who would you say in your lifetime of following Tennessee football was the biggest bust or a recruit who everyone thought would be great but was a huge disappointment. Mine would have to be Brian Darden.

 

[allvols4life]

Bryce Brown comes to mind

 

[LakeMaryFLVol]

Chris Simms

 

[vols 30]

Kahlil McKenzie

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Harrison Bailey

 

[Go Fight Win]

KM. saw first hand the amount of waste going on there

 

[JohnWardForever]

DARDEN, simply because of his own self hype. "I going to do great things for Tennessee". (paraphrased) Al Wilson "Let's see if this Freshman is ready to play some ball" Prior to slamming BD into the turf in the "Tennessee Drill".

 

[BIG SEXY]

DARDEN, simply because of his own self hype. "I going to do great things for Tennessee". (paraphrased) Al Wilson "Let's see if this Freshman is ready to play some ball" Prior to slamming BD into the turf in the "Tennessee Drill".

Agree !!!

 

[Hacksaw]

Darden was the first name I thought of when I saw the thread title. He's the recruit that caused me to stop paying so much attention to recruiting. But there have been a bunch of guys who were hyped and didn't live up to it. It's understandable. I wonder how much of it is just the way young men are at that age and sometimes they just decide they don't want to put in the work necessary to play at the highest level. You have to really want it, even when you are blessed with rare talent.

 

[FlyFishnVol]

Who would you say in your lifetime of following Tennessee football was the biggest bust or a recruit who everyone thought would be great but was a huge disappointment. Mine would have to be Brian Darden.

UT not recruiting me in 1979, BIGGEST BUST! , me and Coach Battle had some short one-on-one conversations, he went on and on about size and speed, what the_____!

 

[dobre_shunka]

Travis Cozart

 

[volmandu]

I recent times Khalil McKenzie and Brice Brown. Esp about McKenzie there were weekly articles every year on how he was dominating Butch's circle of life etc .. yet never materialized. Bryce wasn't here long.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Moses Collins. He didn’t turn out at all to be a better version of T-Rob.

 

[aRmo]

JG

 

[A.J.]

He’s probably not the biggest bust, but J.J. Peterson is a recent one that comes to mind. I remember folks watching anxiously as it got down to the wire to get him academically eligible for the season, then once he got cleared and on his way, excitement built thinking he was gonna be one of the big pieces to start turning the program around.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

JG has to be up there. He never should’ve been a 5 star w/ his high school #’s though.

Edit: JG was not a 5 star.

 

[Putbacks]

O.J. Owens

 

[gobravesvols16]

Chris Donald

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Janzen Jackson

 

[samanderson]

Chris Donald

For me, he was the biggest bust ever!

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I forget his name, but that DB from Texas that signed around 1984. Got arrested for armed robbery before arriving on campus and never played. Evans IIRC.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Randy Hall from Halls was a HUGE OL signee. I think he had injuries and it never happened for him at UT.

 

[gobravesvols16]

Brandon Jeffries, James Banks

 

[Hacksaw]

I also always think of mid-90s TE Dustin Moore. He was so hyped and was really impressive during his short time before being kicked off the team (as I recall). Huge unrealized potential.

 

[TAF]

I don't know if it was the "biggest"...but certainly a NICE Tennessee Bust...