'Package' deals that the lesser recruit became the better player

[AHSDawg]

How many times have we done a package deal with a lesser player only to have them become the true player...

1) Rodney Hudson / Walt Harris. Arguably, Harris is the best NFLer we have had. Played 13 seasons in the NFL.

2) Brassell / Market. We can all debate whether Brassell was 'going' to be good but he isn't on the field...

3) Quay Evans / Calhoun. Taveze is a ballhawk. Love the size and the way he plays.

And like I heard on sports talk this morning. If you are signing 25 players a year and half of them become good players, you are working with 48 quality players. That is how you build a program. I would say that for the last 5 years, we have been hitting that number or slightly better. That is where our quality depth has come from.

 

[dawgstudent]

I think Calhoun/Evans is a great example. Calhoun wasn't even offered until a few days before signing day.

I don't know if you can count Brassell/Market considering they went to different schools.

 

[aTotal360]

The thought was we that offered Market to get Brassell. Both committed to State around the same time. Maybe at the exact same time. I can't remember. I'd count them.

 

[AHSDawg]

Sorry. Didn't Brassell/Market both go to South Panola? I just thought I remembered their coach talking about how MSU shouldn't be complaining about missing out after Brassell broke his commitment (which according the coach, South Panola kids always honor their commitments) because Market was the best player on their team.

 

[RingN2012]

Deljuan Robinson/Kevin Dockery
Robinson turned out okay but Dockery went on to a nice career in the pros and won a ring with New York.
I remember watching Dockery who was forced to play early and was completely awful. Got better and turned out to be good.

 

[AHSDawg]

Nevermind... Realize you are talking about MSU/TSUN after the fact

But, yes, I thought we offered them both as a package deal in order to get a better shot at Brassell.

 

[dawgstudent]

Gotcha. Still funny to me how ahead we came out on that deal.

 

[57stratdawg]

Don't forget about Singleton/Manning and Joe Price**

 

[RiverCityDawg]

I think your general point is good on Quay/Calhoun because the unknown guy has turned out to be better, and not to highjack, but I wouldn't consider that a package deal.

To me a package deal is when you take a player you might not otherwise take so you have a better chance at a highly-recruited player. Sure, our coaches found Calhoun while in Morton checking out Quay, but I don't remember any talk that those two were close or Quay was going to give a closer look to the team that signed Calhoun the year before.

I think the Calhoun deal was more about taking a flyer on a guy who everyone near him said had "it" along with at least the size of an SEC athlete. Also, we "missed" on a few guys (Brassell, Singleton, CJ, etc) so we had an open spot.

Like another poster said, I think Robinson/Dockery is a pretty good example. Robinson actually ended up a good player and played in the NFL for a year or two, but had the major health issue set him back for a couple years and didn't seem to get back to what he was thought to be. Dockery turned out to be a starter early and leader in our secondary then went on to play in the NFL and win a Super Bowl.