Recruiting BUSTS

[jphoss]

With recruiting services now playing the role of gatekeepers of the caste system I wanted to document how wrong and how often they are when ranking these players out of hs. I’ll start it off with a couple of recent infamous 5* busts-

Arik Gilbert who was the #5 overall player in 2020 and the HIGHEST ranked hs te ever! He went to lsu where he had a solid freshman season catching 35 passes but then transferred to Georgia where he caught only 2 passes and then transferred again to Nebraska where he was arrested for burglary.
Antonio Alfano was the #1 player in 2019 committed to play for bama, where according to Nick Saban “he basically quit”, and then decided to team up with our good friend Mel Tucker at Colorado. Unfortunately for Antonio Mel played him bc he accepted the msu job a few weeks later. Antonio didn’t like that so he transferred again to Independence Community college where he didn’t play a snap! However Lackawanna College in PA saw something in those zero snaps played and offered Antonio a shot to play for them where he rewarded their trust by getting 14 tackles and four sacks. You would think that would be the end of the story but no! His limitless upside caused the CFL Edmonton elks to draft him in 2024 where he has still not played a single game! Maybe in a few years mike tomlin will offer him a roster spot!

 

[Leonardfan]

Great idea for a thread! Certainly a lot more leg work considering the sheer number of recruits over the years. I’ll be sure to contribute where I can. Perhaps we can use AI to assist as well.

 

[Bucky]

Beyond worthy thread. I can’t wait to chip in with some names.

 

[KnowTheScore]

Malachi Nelson is a great example of a huge bust. As a top 15 player overall in the class of 2023, the QB originally went to USC for his freshman year, didn't see the field and entered the portal. He landed at Boise State out of the portal, prompting several articles hyping him up and discussing how he would elevate the Boise State program to new heights. However, he lost the starting job and barely played at all. He then entered the portal again after a year at Boise State and transferred to lowly Utep ahead of this season. He actually wi,ns the starting job for once and is benched after only 5 starts (with 8 TDs and 9 INTs) playing in the worst FBS conference by a significant margin. Some of his "highlights" from his time at UTEP include throwing for 73 yards, no touchdowns, and 4 interceptions against Louisiana Tech. As of today, some "lucky" school will receive the opportunity to have him attempt to live up to his generational talent as he entered the portal again today.