Boon or Bust...

[Cobblestone]

I think we all get a little excited when an FBS player transfers to our program. Sometimes it's worth the excitement other times... well.

1. Name some player(s) who transferred to your program from an FBS (formerly I-A) school who came in with much hype and ended up being a bust.

2. Name some player(s) who transferred to your program from FBS (I-A) and ended up being a blessing for your program, even though you may have only had him for a season or two.

I'll start it out.

Bust - We had a guy named Travis Mcguire who transferred from Ohio State in the late 80's (88 or 89). He played one season at OSU and was way down on the depth chart. However he came in with much hype because he was voted "MR. Football" in Ohio his senior year of high school. We were shocked we got this kid but it turned out our coach at the time was from Ohio originally and still had some connections there plus he knew this kid personally. Well Travis pulls a Roberto Duran during spring practice... "no mas" because he had stomach cramps, leaves school and was never heard from again.

Boon - We had a wondeful RB who transferred from Clemson named James Jenkins. He came in with some pretty good hype and man did he live up to it. Sadly, we only had him for 2 seasons (1997 - 1998) but he became the first Rhode Island running back in school history to rush for two-straight 1,000-yard seasons. After URI he played a few seasons in the CFL.

How about your programs transfers?

[TexasTerror]

SHSU...

Boon - Josh McCown and Dustin Long. McCown from SMU and Long from A&M led SHSU to the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. We also had WR Jason Mathenia of Vanderbilt, who had issues staying away from drugs, still was a major part of that semifinal run including the amazing comeback at Eastern Washington. Chris Chaloupka of Oklahoma State in 1999 did pretty well -- just didn't get SHSU into the playoffs.

Bust - Luke Huard of UNC never took a snap for SHSU. Noah Allen of Oklahoma had some steroid issues. Vance Smith from Texas A&M didn't show much.

We'll see what happens with Rhett Bomar of Oklahoma and DL Chris Brown from Texas...

[813Jag]

That's easy. For Southern:
Boon - Michael Hayes, Wide Reciever from LSU. Transferred and had a huge SWAC championship game. In 2000 he scored a TD in every game. Due to a fight he was involved in at the Bayou Classic he was suspended for the first half of the Northwestern St. game in 2001. He suffered a knee injury in that game.
Bust - Victor Ike, Running Back from Texas. Transferred for one year, could never get on the field to display the speed he showed at UT. Finally hit the field at the Bayou Classic in 2002 and injured his knee after a big play. Alot of people wanted him plugged into the starting lineup because he came from Texas.

[andy7171]

BOON - Tony Vinson transfered from Purdue to Towson when Purdue hired a "Run and Shoot" HC. He sat out during 1991 season. In 1992 he ran for over a 1000 yards in 7 games. In 1993, he ran for over 2,000 and 28 TDs. He was the NCAA triple crown winner that year with MostRushingYards, MostAllPurpose yards and Scoring. Not bad work. We would have done damage in the play offs that year.

[89Hen]

Boon - Shawn Johnson DE from Duke. Was a huge reason the Hens won their first I-AA NC.

Bust* - Keith Burnell RB from VT. The reason for the asterisk is he was a decent runner, but a LOT was expected of him when he came to UD. He averaged 80 yards per game which isn't bad, but considering he was supposed to be a I-A stud RB, that's pretty low. Germaine Bennett averaged over 100 the next year and Omar Cuff has outperformed that too.

[UncleSam]

Boon - Shawn Johnson DE from Duke. Was a huge reason the Hens won their first I-AA NC.

Bust* - Keith Burnell RB from VT. The reason for the asterisk is he was a decent runner, but a LOT was expected of him when he came to UD. He averaged 80 yards per game which isn't bad, but considering he was supposed to be a I-A stud RB, that's pretty low. Germaine Bennett averaged over 100 the next year and Omar Cuff has outperformed that too.


I think you should add Andy Hall to that Boon list.

[PantherRob82]

Whtiney Lewis from USC came in last year. He was highly touted out of high school, but got stuck behind Reggie Bush at RB. This is his senior year, so the jury is out, but so far he has not been what the fans expected. Not sure what the coaches expected out of him.

[SoCon48]

I think we all get a little excited when an FBS player transfers to our program. Sometimes it's worth the excitement other times... well.

1. Name some player(s) who transferred to your program from an FBS (formerly I-A) school who came in with much hype and ended up being a bust.

2. Name some player(s) who transferred to your program from FBS (I-A) and ended up being a blessing for your program, even though you may have only had him for a season or two.

I'll start it out.

Bust - We had a guy named Travis Mcguire who transferred from Ohio State in the late 80's (88 or 89). He played one season at OSU and was way down on the depth chart. However he came in with much hype because he was voted "MR. Football" in Ohio his senior year of high school. We were shocked we got this kid but it turned out our coach at the time was from Ohio originally and still had some connections there plus he knew this kid personally. Well Travis pulls a Roberto Duran during spring practice... "no mas" because he had stomach cramps, leaves school and was never heard from again.

Boon - We had a wondeful RB who transferred from Clemson named James Jenkins. He came in with some pretty good hype and man did he live up to it. Sadly, we only had him for 2 seasons (1997 - 1998) but he became the first Rhode Island running back in school history to rush for two-straight 1,000-yard seasons. After URI he played a few seasons in the CFL.

How about your programs transfers?

It's usually somewhere in between Boom or Bust. Some guys just weren't I-A material from the get go. Some get a raw deal because the depth chart is just unfathomable at some I-A's.
Some just believe in their high school press clippings too much.

[Eyes of Old Main]

Neither.

Wofford doesn't take FBS transfers. We've had a few transfer in from D-II. A few years ago we had a kicker who played junior college soccer, but never any football, and currently we have a LB who signed with Presbyterian, never played, transfered, and decided to resume his career. That's about it as far as I know.

[g-webb1994]

Derrick Fenner came to G-W from UNC but never played except for one spring game. The performance he had in that game is still part of G-W atheltic lore.