SEC East recruiting booms and busts from the 2013 Class
We looked at the SEC West Booms and Busts of the 2013 recruiting class last week. The rules have stayed the same and players who have been dismissed for character purposes count as greater busts levels. Also if a player resurfaces elsewhere and succeeds (see Tray Matthews) it doesn’t mean they are any less of a recruiting bust to the program that originally signed them.
Without further adieu …
FLORIDA
Boom: Vernon Hargreaves III, DB – Hargreaves was the nation’s top defensive back entering Florida and he didn’t take long to make his impact on the field. He started 34 of 36 games and had 121 tackles and 10 interceptions in his three-year career. Hargreaves was a first-team All American twice and a first-team All-SEC performer three times. He declared for the 2016 NFL Draft and was selected 11th overall by his hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Bust: Jay-nard Bostwick, DT — The four-star prospect flipped from Miami to Florida and came into Gainesville with a lot of fanfare but quickly fizzled out. He played in just five games over two seasons and transferred to West Texas A&M.
GEORGIA
Boom: Leonard Floyd, OLB – Bulldogs fans had to wait an extra year for Floyd to come to Athens but he was a wrecking machine when he arrived. In three years Floyd had 182 tackles and 17 sacks as a rush linebacker. Floyd was selected ninth overall by the Chicago Bears in the 2016 draft.
Bust: Tray Matthews, CB – Matthews is starting at Auburn, but that’s of little consolation to Georgia fans who saw the top-rated player in their 2013 class get arrested in March of 2014 and subsequently dismissed by former head coach Mark Richt a month later.
KENTUCKY
Boom: Za’Darius Smith, LB/DE – Smith, a junior college transfer from East Mississippi College, made the most of his two seasons with the Wildcats recording 119 tackles and 11 sacks. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.
Bust: Jason Hatcher, LB – Hatcher kept his name in the news while at Kentucky but for all the wrong reasons. Hatcher missed games for reasons ranging from marijuana possession to assorted team violations during his three years at Kentucky. An arrest for drug trafficking in February put an end to his time as a Wildcat.
MISSOURI
Boom: Anthony Sherrils, DB – The mid-level three-star prospect has developed into a regular starter for the Tigers and is gaining a little traction as a potential All-SEC performer in 2016. Sherrils started 12 games in 2015 and was third on the team with 64 tackles. He secured a win against UConn last season with an interception on a fake field goal attempt.
Bust: Trent Hosick, QB – The second-highest rated player in the class has taken a strange journey and very little of it involved Missouri. Hosick left Missouri in 2014 and ended up at Arizona Western College. He had offers to BYU and San Diego State but stayed at Arizona Western in hopes of something bigger. Hosick didn’t gain any additional traction with FBS schools and enrolled at Youngstown State.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Boom: Pharoh Cooper, WR – Cooper entered the program as a defensive back but became the team’s top receiver in 2014 and had over 2,000 receiving yards in his sophomore and junior seasons combined. Cooper with a first-team All-SEC performer in 2014 and entered the 2016 NFL Draft where he was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth round.
Bust: Na’Ty Rodgers, OL – The former high three-star prospect left the program in November 2014 and didn’t leave quietly. Rodgers transferred to Iowa Western and actually looked to be coming back to the SEC for a second but will play at the University of Houston this year.
TENNESSEE
Boom: Joshua Dobbs, QB – Dobbs is 13-5 as the Volunteers starting quarterback as he heads into his third season behind center. Dobbs threw for 2,291 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for 671 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior. In his career Dobbs has over 5,500 total yards and 46 touchdowns. Dobbs is a potential Heisman candidate in 2016 along and gets positive news for his work on and off the field as a student athlete.
Bust: Jason Carr, DL – The former four-star prospect lasted one season and left in the spring of 2014. Carr is playing at West Georgia.
VANDERBILT
Boom: Zach Cunningham, LB – The four-star prospect lived up to his billing in 2015 when he was nearly every first-team All-SEC list after accumulating over 100 tackles as a redshirt sophomore. Cunningham also had 16.5 tackles for loss and four sacks on the season. He will be one of the conference’s top returning starters on defense in 2016.
Bust: Jordan Cunningham, WR – Cunningham (no relation to Zach), another four-star prospect, just never seemed to find comfort in the program. He had 19 catches for 150 yards over two seasons. He took a leave of absence from the program in 2014 and transferred to North Carolina.