February 9, 2011
I found this interesting article on bleacherreport.com concerning some of the best college players that didn’t make the grade in the NFL. Man, some of these guys have unbelievable stats in college, but for some reason or other, they never made it big in the NFL. I Wonder which of the college stars of 2010 that get drafted by the NFL in 2011 are going to flop? Some of the players in the top 50 didn’t make it due to screw-ups, on or off the field, others were just not good enough NFL material. There is one player that stands out in my mind. His name is Maurice Clarett who had an outstanding high school career and was listed as one of the top 100 college prospects by several publications. He went on to play at Ohio State in 2002, where as a freshman he rushed for over 1200 yards and scored 18 touchdowns, a school record. I remember seeing him play on television and I thought, this guy is one of the greatest running backs I had ever seen. Clarett was suspended from the Ohio State football team in 2003 for several infractions. He moved to Los Angeles, California where he sued the NFL, challenging the rule that he had to wait three years after graduating from high school before he would be eligible for the NFL draft. He wanted to be included in the 2004 draft. He won in a lower court, however, an appeals court overturned the verdict. After that, he lost a chance to return to play in college because he had signed with an agent prior to being denied by the NFL. Surprisingly, he was drafted as the final pick of the third round in 2005 by the Denver Broncos and later showed up at training camp, some 20 pounds overweight. He signed a contract but never played a single down in the NFL. He later went to the pen for robbery. With all his talent, this guy shot himself in the foot, never to be what he could have been. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone reading this would learn from Mr. Clarett’s mistakes? (info gathered from wikipedia). Click the following link to read about the 50 college players that flopped in the NFL:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/596944-the-50-best-college-players-who-flopped-in-the-nfl