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The Lost Class of 2004

Rellyrell

Rellyrell

Heisman Winner
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You know we've been talking about attrition or guys who bust that's walked through these hallowed doors for a while. We've been talking about culture problems, and it's origin here. I think we can pin point 2004 as the beginning of the end of the era of "The U."

Per 247, Butch Davis' last 3 classes (1999, 2000, and 2001) ranked #1, #7, and #8 respectively (although I believe the 2001 class may be off).
These classes also produced uber players:
-Ken Dorsey / Bryant McKinnie / Jarrett Payton / Clinton Portis / Andre Johnson / Vernon Carey / Kevin Beard / Jason Geathers / Mo Sikes / Phillip Buchanon / DJ Williams / Willis McGahee / Carlos Joseph / Vince Wilfork / Chris Meyers / Jon Vilma / Derrick Crudup / Darrell McGlover / Joel Rodriguez / ST26 / Frank Gore / Orien Harris / Antrel Rolle

I mean we're talking about the who's who of CFB, and NFL. Butch completely knocked it out the park obviously.

2002 - 2003 were really good classes under Clappy as well. Those classes ranked #5 and #4 respectively, which featured:
Baraka Atkins / Glenn Sharpe / Kareem Brown / Jon Peattie / Greg Threat / Darnell Jenkins / Brandon Meriweather / Baby Moss / Ryan Moore / Akieem Jolla / Eric Winston / Devin Hester / Jon Beason / Kevin Everett / B Pata (RIP) / Tavares Gooden / Ty Moss / Greg Olsen / Kyle Wright

Not bad for a two year hall to supplement the 2001 class.

But then inexplicably, 2004 happened; and quite frankly, I don't recall any of these blue chip guys:

This class was ranked #3, but I'm not sure who really played a meaningful down or had an impact besides Calais Campbell, Leggett (kind of) and Charlie Jones:
Tyler McMeans / LoVon Ponder / Derron Thomas / Tyrone Byrd / Willie Williams / Joe Joseph / Rashaun Jones / Anthony Reddick (Mr. Helmet swinger) / Antonio Dixon / Chris Zellner / Carlos Armour / Khalil Jones / George Timmons / Josh Kerr / Andrew Johnson / Rhyan Anderson / Dwayne Hendricks / Bobby Washington / Kirby Freeman

We're talking about **** near the entire class either not making it in or being straight bust. How does this happen?

Then 2005 happened (ranked 9th) where we saw the same thing that happened w/ the 2004 class sans Kenny Phillips and Darryl Sharpton
Then 2006 happened (ranked 12th)

2004 was that pivotal class where it looked good on paper, but was bull chit. And that trend has overtaken us ever since. We haven't had a complete class where majority of it's players either dominated or contributed since 2003.
 
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Rellyrell said:
But then inexplicably, 2004 happened; and quite frankly, I don't recall any of these blue chip guys:

This class was ranked #3, but I'm not sure who really played a meaningful down or had an impact besides Calais Campbell, Leggett (kind of) and Charlie Jones:
Tyler McMeans / LoVon Ponder / Derron Thomas / Tyrone Byrd / Willie Williams / Joe Joseph / Rashaun Jones / Anthony Reddick (Mr. Helmet swinger) / Antonio Dixon / Chris Zellner / Carlos Armour / Khalil Jones / George Timmons / Josh Kerr / Andrew Johnson / Rhyan Anderson / Dwayne Hendricks / Bobby Washington / Kirby Freeman
Click to expand...

Look at the RBs in that class. It was supposed to be the most loaded RB class ever.

Charlie Jones--Serviceable at times, but not a true UM back.
Bobby Washington--Never even made it into UM.
Derron Thomas--Not enough speed to be a speed back and not enough power to run between the tackles.
Andrew Johnson--Flashed in one game, transferred out, and was never heard from again.
George Timmons--Not a UM back.

That's a pretty devastating crop right there.
 
Last edited:
Rellyrell said:
You know we've been talking about attrition or guys who bust that's walked through these hallowed doors for a while. We've been talking about culture problems, and it's origin here. I think we can pin point 2004 as the beginning of the end of the era of "The U."

Per 247, Butch Davis' last 3 classes (1999, 2000, and 2001) ranked #1, #7, and #8 respectively (although I believe the 2001 class may be off).
These classes also produced uber players:
-Ken Dorsey / Bryant McKinnie / Jarrett Payton / Clinton Portis / Andre Johnson / Vernon Carey / Kevin Beard / Jason Geathers / Mo Sikes / Phillip Buchanon / DJ Williams / Willis McGahee / Carlos Joseph / Vince Wilfork / Chris Meyers / Jon Vilma / Derrick Crudup / Darrell McGlover / Joel Rodriguez / ST26 / Frank Gore / Orien Harris / Antrel Rolle

I mean we're talking about the who's who of CFB, and NFL. Butch completely knocked it out the park obviously.

2002 - 2003 were really good classes under Clappy as well. Those classes ranked #5 and #4 respectively, which featured:
Baraka Atkins / Glenn Sharpe / Kareem Brown / Jon Peattie / Greg Threat / Darnell Jenkins / Brandon Meriweather / Baby Moss / Ryan Moore / Akieem Jolla / Eric Winston / Devin Hester / Jon Beason / Kevin Everett / B Pata (RIP) / Tavares Gooden / Ty Moss / Greg Olsen / Kyle Wright

Not bad for a two year hall to supplement the 2001 class.

But then inexplicably, 2004 happened; and quite frankly, I don't recall any of these blue chip guys:

This class was ranked #3, but I'm not sure who really played a meaningful down or had an impact besides Calais Campbell, Leggett (kind of) and Charlie Jones:
Tyler McMeans / LoVon Ponder / Derron Thomas / Tyrone Byrd / Willie Williams / Joe Joseph / Rashaun Jones / Anthony Reddick (Mr. Helmet swinger) / Antonio Dixon / Chris Zellner / Carlos Armour / Khalil Jones / George Timmons / Josh Kerr / Andrew Johnson / Rhyan Anderson / Dwayne Hendricks / Bobby Washington / Kirby Freeman

We're talking about **** near the entire class either not making it in or being straight bust. How does this happen?

Then 2005 happened (ranked 9th) where we saw the same thing that happened w/ the 2004 class sans Kenny Phillips and Darryl Sharpton
Then 2006 happened (ranked 12th)

2004 was that pivotal class where it looked good on paper, but was bull chit. And that trend has overtaken us ever since. We haven't had a complete class where majority of it's players either dominated or contributed since 2003.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I have been on the topic of the '04 class for years! It's literally the bullet in the forehead of this program. It was the single worst class we have ever had at the U. Forget the rankings. Coker recruited like a grandma trying to figure out a shell game in Times Square. He went for every **** banana in every **** tailpipe.

He took 28 kids. Only 1!!!! was a good player at UM, and that kid (CC) went pro early after a disappointing / injured junior year. So we got one good season out of the whole class. Charlie Jones and Chris Zellner were probably the next two best contributors in the class. Just a catastrophic failure. It actually defies probability. We'd have done better randomly taking commitments from 3* kids in So Fla. Much better.

Mind you, this was after a bad '02 class and a pretty bad '03 class. Very, very little depth behind a few front-liners in either class. Pile on '04 and you can see how riddled out the roster was. Nolady pointed this out back when and UM fans didn't want to hear it. He was right. It was impossible to recover from that without a great evaluator. Sadly, the AD didn't even understand what was going on. So they hired a few seat warmers and the parade of horribles continued.

'02: Winston, Threatt, Meriweather, Sharp
'03: Olsen, Beason, Gooden, Hester, Morse
 
Rellyrell said:
You know we've been talking about attrition or guys who bust that's walked through these hallowed doors for a while. We've been talking about culture problems, and it's origin here. I think we can pin point 2004 as the beginning of the end of the era of "The U."

Per 247, Butch Davis' last 3 classes (1999, 2000, and 2001) ranked #1, #7, and #8 respectively (although I believe the 2001 class may be off).
These classes also produced uber players:
-Ken Dorsey / Bryant McKinnie / Jarrett Payton / Clinton Portis / Andre Johnson / Vernon Carey / Kevin Beard / Jason Geathers / Mo Sikes / Phillip Buchanon / DJ Williams / Willis McGahee / Carlos Joseph / Vince Wilfork / Chris Meyers / Jon Vilma / Derrick Crudup / Darrell McGlover / Joel Rodriguez / ST26 / Frank Gore / Orien Harris / Antrel Rolle

I mean we're talking about the who's who of CFB, and NFL. Butch completely knocked it out the park obviously.

2002 - 2003 were really good classes under Clappy as well. Those classes ranked #5 and #4 respectively, which featured:
Baraka Atkins / Glenn Sharpe / Kareem Brown / Jon Peattie / Greg Threat / Darnell Jenkins / Brandon Meriweather / Baby Moss / Ryan Moore / Akieem Jolla / Eric Winston / Devin Hester / Jon Beason / Kevin Everett / B Pata (RIP) / Tavares Gooden / Ty Moss / Greg Olsen / Kyle Wright

Not bad for a two year hall to supplement the 2001 class.

But then inexplicably, 2004 happened; and quite frankly, I don't recall any of these blue chip guys:

This class was ranked #3, but I'm not sure who really played a meaningful down or had an impact besides Calais Campbell, Leggett (kind of) and Charlie Jones:
Tyler McMeans / LoVon Ponder / Derron Thomas / Tyrone Byrd / Willie Williams / Joe Joseph / Rashaun Jones / Anthony Reddick (Mr. Helmet swinger) / Antonio Dixon / Chris Zellner / Carlos Armour / Khalil Jones / George Timmons / Josh Kerr / Andrew Johnson / Rhyan Anderson / Dwayne Hendricks / Bobby Washington / Kirby Freeman

We're talking about **** near the entire class either not making it in or being straight bust. How does this happen?

Then 2005 happened (ranked 9th) where we saw the same thing that happened w/ the 2004 class sans Kenny Phillips and Darryl Sharpton
Then 2006 happened (ranked 12th)

2004 was that pivotal class where it looked good on paper, but was bull chit. And that trend has overtaken us ever since. We haven't had a complete class where majority of it's players either dominated or contributed since 2003.
Click to expand...
The tragedy that was Willie Williams. The best high school football player I ever saw! How someone with that much talent turned out to be a bust is the mystery of all mysteries. Smh
 
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NicKane said:
The tragedy that was Willie Williams. The best high school football player I ever saw! How someone with that much talent turned out to be a bust is the mystery of all mysteries. Smh
Click to expand...

No leadership or structure around him. The locker room became a unmitigated mess after the disciplined Butch kids left.
 
That class stunk and it felt like a home run on NSD. We got Willie and landed a bunch of guys like Rhyan Anderson and James Bryant at the buzzer.

We signed a ton of crappy out-of-state guys, but in retrospect ‘04 and ‘05 were terrible years in Florida. By the time the state rebounded in ‘06 and ‘07 we had to deal with Urban Meyer.
 
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Rellyrell said:
No leadership or structure around him. The locker room became a unmitigated mess after the disciplined Butch kids left.
Click to expand...
I've been preaching discipline since Butch left. We haven't hired a coach since that could instil discipline in the players. Instead, we use gimmicky crap like "Paradise Camp", and "NFLU". We dance on the sidelines, and like to wear fancy jewelry if we make a good play. You know, good plays disciplined players make regularly, and without expectations of a special treat. Their treat comes with a W at the end of the game.

Man, I miss disciplined football.
 
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NicKane said:
The tragedy that was Willie Williams. The best high school football player I ever saw! How someone with that much talent turned out to be a bust is the mystery of all mysteries. Smh
Click to expand...
Plenty of amazingly talented kids fail to make it because of bad choices or bad luck. Lamar Mundane was such a legend Reebok designed a campaign around him despite him never having played pro ball.
 
MiamiChris said:
Farr should have never been a 5 star, our first option was another Texas 5* who I believe was committed to us for a bit wasMartellius Bennett
Click to expand...
I remember Martellus tryin to catch a pass in back of endzone in OB like this dude supposed to be at UM.. Looked like a basketball player on field, straight afflete type ****
 
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ThomasM said:
I've been preaching discipline since Butch left. We haven't hired a coach since that could instil discipline in the players. Instead, we use gimmicky crap like "Paradise Camp", and "NFLU". We dance on the sidelines, and like to wear fancy jewelry if we make a good play. You know, good plays disciplined players make regularly, and without expectations of a special treat. Their treat comes with a W at the end of the game.

Man, I miss disciplined football.
Click to expand...

I look at our old games on YouTube, and we looked intimidating. Everyone looked like grown men; kinda like LSU, Bama, OSU, and Clemson kids. We miss the **** outta Moffitt, too. That dude was intense, was not w the bull chit, and made sure these guys muscle fibers hurt from strain & exhaustion. 99 degrees at the OB? No problem.

I look at our kids now, and we legit look like a high school varsity team, man. Some look like grown men, but the greater majority look like kids, no intimidation. That dancing chit had me almost in tears from anger.
 
MiamiChris said:
Farr should have never been a 5 star, our first option was another Texas 5* who I believe was committed to us for a bit was Martellus Bennett
Click to expand...

He was coming here until Texas A&M dropped the bags. Farr was our plan B.


Rellyrell said:
But then inexplicably, 2004 happened; and quite frankly, I don't recall any of these blue chip guys:

This class was ranked #3, but I'm not sure who really played a meaningful down or had an impact besides Calais Campbell, Leggett (kind of) and Charlie Jones:
Tyler McMeans / LoVon Ponder / Derron Thomas / Tyrone Byrd / Willie Williams / Joe Joseph / Rashaun Jones / Anthony Reddick (Mr. Helmet swinger) / Antonio Dixon / Chris Zellner / Carlos Armour / Khalil Jones / George Timmons / Josh Kerr / Andrew Johnson / Rhyan Anderson / Dwayne Hendricks / Bobby Washington / Kirby Freeman

We're talking about **** near the entire class either not making it in or being straight bust. How does this happen?

Then 2005 happened (ranked 9th) where we saw the same thing that happened w/ the 2004 class sans Kenny Phillips and Darryl Sharpton
Then 2006 happened (ranked 12th)

2004 was that pivotal class where it looked good on paper, but was bull chit. And that trend has overtaken us ever since. We haven't had a complete class where majority of it's players either dominated or contributed since 2003.
Click to expand...

This class makes me cringe. We failed on 90%+ of our evaluations. This was the beginning of the end.

Canestime.com still owes me my 2004 class highlight VHS. I paid for it, but I think they spared me by not sending it. (**** you, Mike Bakas!)
 
The 2004 class was the epitome of not trusting the current star system. You can tell who just started following recruiting by how much they cry about it. God**** Nerds.
 
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