



With signing day behind us, we now have a few months to talk about which freshman are going to help the team this year. You always look to the 4 and 5 star players to make the biggest impact even though Cam Sutton would disagree. It's just natural though to buy into at least some of the hype the recruiting agencies put into these kids. Here is a list of the top 5 biggest busts since 2002 for the Tennessee Volunteers.



5. Drae Bowles (2012) - A 4 star wide receiver, 2nd rated player in the state. Bowles redshirted his freshman year. He did not play on offense the next year with all his snaps coming on special teams. He did however manage to record 2 tackles. He has now transferred to UTC, finishing his career at UT without a reception.

4. Walter Fisher (2006) - 5 star defensive tackle from Coffeyville Community College. As a JC transfer soph, Fisher played in 8 games and recorded 8 tackles. As a junior, he didn't start a game. Finally in his senior year he started 4 games. He did have 27 tackles his junior season but that hardly represents the havoc he was supposed to cause in the middle.

3.Brandon Jefferies (2002) - 5 star offensive lineman. He was rated the 19thoverall player in the country. After redshirting his freshman year, he never managed to get higher than 3rd string on the depth chart. He transferred to junior college and ultimately ended up at NC State.

2. Kenny O'Neal (2007) - 5 star wide receiver. O'Neal was supposed to be a deep threat with great speed. The report was always that Kenny could not or would not learn the routes that he was supposed to run. With someone with his hype, is a fly route that hard to learn? He was supposed to be a deep go up and get it receiver. He finished his career with 2 catches for the Vols. He was however a STANDOUT on NCAA Football 2008 for xbox 360 and ps3. I believe he was a 98 speed rating.

1. Chris Donald (2007) - 5 star linebacker. Crazy to think the 2 biggest busts came from the same recruiting class. Donald was rated the 18th player overall and the #1 linebacker. He played in only 2 games for the Vols during his career. He never played a snap on the defensive side of the ball. His only action was on special teams. Even worse to think Rolando McClain was rated below him. Rivals was quoted as saying "inside or outside linebacker, it doesn't matter, he's one of the best".



Honorable Mentions: Bryce Brown, Nu'keese Richardson, DeAnthony Arnett, Ted Meline, Jerod Askew and Matt Milton.



Please don't mistake this list as me saying "stars don't matter" because they do. There's a reason that the players are rated highly. A lot of the 5 stars pan out into great players. I just think it's fun (for people that like pain) to look back at some of the busts your team has had.