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All time “What may have been” Team

bestever1991 said:
Britton performed well in 1991 and his strength was apparent. He played a few series and was brought in sometimes in short yardage situations. He was great. But he was backing up the Bermuda Triangle. That’s like backing up Cal Ripken Jr.
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Don't know about "great". I know he was relatively highly rated out of columbus but he was a bit on the overrated side imo. Watched him practice a bunch nd he never really jumped out. Mean ****, though.!
 
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Jammi German - Uber talented - had an ACL when they were borderline career ending and couldn’t stay out of trouble.

Melvin Bratton

Random one - Ethnic Sands ... there was a speech to the team by (I think) Ed Reed where he spoke about Sands being one of the most talented players he’d ever seen, but just couldn’t put it all together or didn’t have the drive/desire.
 
ManPower4 said:
I know all about Gore. As a freshman i told friends at the time that had he gone to a running school like Nebraska he would win a heisman trophy. And i still wouldn't have placed him in the category of barry sanders or bo jackson..Not a knock on Gore at all
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Wait, so if he never blew out his knee you don't think it was in the category? How can you know that? What did you see up until his injury that made you think he was anything less?
 
miamimarine said:
Huh? He went to five pro bowls and played for 11 seasons and is in the NYG Ring of Honor.

Semper Canes!!!
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Jesse was the number 1 recruit in the country but he suffered a knee injury his freshman year. He was still great but many of us think he would have been the best of the Bermuda Triangle and a much higher draft pick but for the knee injury. Just remember that Jesse was drafted well after Smith and Barrow.
 
Sadly we could create another list of Hurricane greats who had college or pro career cut short by untimely death. We've lost a lot of players and good people. Off the top of my head

ST
Shane Curry
Jerome Brown
Al Baldes
Chris Campbell
Marlon Barnes
Brian Pata
 
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TemplarCane said:
We never saw Gore’s full potential at UM.

I think that’s the intent of the OP listing him.
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Not to be a stickler for words but he averaged something like 9 yards/carry at UM. We definitely SAW the potential, we just never fully got to experience and benefit from it
 
colperm said:
Not to be a stickler for words but he averaged something like 9 yards/carry at UM. We definitely SAW the potential, we just never fully got to experience and benefit from it
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To me, his full potential would have been a season like Willis had in 2002, when Gore sat out. Gore never ACHIEVED his full potential due to missing 2002 and much of 2003 due to injuries.

But fair enough.
 
AQM
Jermaine Grace
Eddie Johnson
Arthur Brown
Ahmmon Richards
Gerald Willis
Greg Rousseau
Joe Yearby
Avantae Williams
 
I got 2 RBs for this list. Storm Johnson. And Duke. Storm was a beast that flashed here and then left to UCF and put up some real numbers. Duke was sidelined with some knee issues here and a head coach that didn’t cut it. Imagine Duke on 99-05 teams.
 
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Trav said:
Wait, so if he never blew out his knee you don't think it was in the category? How can you know that? What did you see up until his injury that made you think he was anything less?
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By the same token how could you know that he would be good in the Barry Sanders/ Bo Jackson category if he never gets hurt ?. Based off a fr season ?
 
Rusty Meaderis (SP?) and Melvin Bratton were as good as anyone we ever had at the U. Devastated by their injuries. Melvin might be a reason so many of the best players skip their final bowl game.
 
ManPower4 said:
By the same token how could you know that he would be good in the Barry Sanders/ Bo Jackson category if he never gets hurt ?. Based off a fr season ?
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Coker, who was Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders RBs Coach at Oklahoma St...said, Gore's the best Freshman RB he ever coached or saw...but what does he know....
 
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fraggle said:
Rusty Meaderis (SP?) and Melvin Bratton were as good as anyone we ever had at the U. Devastated by their injuries. Melvin might be a reason so many of the best players skip their final bowl game.
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Melvin got hurt going for a National Championship. Big difference between that and guys sitting out non playoff bowls.
 
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Craig Erickson
Dale Dawkins
Kenny Philips
Sean Taylor
Jerome Brown
Bryan Pata
Shane Curry
Bratton, Highsmith, and McGuire
Yatil Green
KW II

The list of Canes who were injured or killed, either as Canes or in the NFL, is way too long. So much potential for greatness cut short for one reason or another.
 
mbuendia said:
Watching some random UM games on YouTube from the glory years brought back some memories of players that never fulfilled their immense potential due to unfortunate injuries either while at UM or in the pros. So many heartbreaking examples…feel free to add to the list.

QB-
RB-Mel Bratton
RB-Tyrone Moss
RB-Frank Gore
RB-Willis McGahee
WR-Yatil Green
WR-Ahmon Richards
TE-Curtus Justice or Justus
OL-Eric Winston
OL-
DL-Rusty Medearis
DL-
LB-Matt Britton
LB-Dan Morgan
DB-Malek Young
DB-
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Add avantae Williams on that last slot
 
SFbayCane said:
QB - Kyle Wright

Still one of the highest rated prospects in the history of 247 sports.

Four offensive coordinators and two head coaches during his five years on campus. IMO Kyle Wright is the epitome of what may have been.





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Still the strongest arm we’ve had on campus. Was definitely hindered by what was surrounding him
 
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