(01-26-2014 03:29 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  

(01-26-2014 02:26 PM)emu79 Wrote:  I'm thinking about the one who played high school baskeball in Florida, played at EMU and then transferred to Jacksonville.

Calvin Warner. A very good forward from the Milton Barnes era. He was from Florida, so I suppose he wanted to be home. He had a very good career at Jacksonville and then played pro ball in South America and the middle east. Yes, they have professional basketball in places like Kuwait and Lebanon.

I remember him. Tall dude who could jump out of the gym.

James Douglas - Was he the guy that left and went to Mizzou? I think he had a pretty good career over there

Darryl Garrett - He had a lot of promise but couldn't do the whole school thing. He went to Schoolcraft and had a good season. Don't know where he went after that.

Rico Harris - The other half of the Dendby Duo. Got in legal trouble (b&e or something). Left EMU and became the MVP of the Michigan penal league (I made the last part up).

Devontae Payne. He looked like an impressive QB.

(01-27-2014 11:28 AM)EMUDirtyBird Wrote:  James Douglas - Was he the guy that left and went to Mizzou? I think he had a pretty good career over there

Darryl Garrett - He had a lot of promise but couldn't do the whole school thing. He went to Schoolcraft and had a good season. Don't know where he went after that.

Rico Harris - The other half of the Dendby Duo. Got in legal trouble (b&e or something). Left EMU and became the MVP of the Michigan penal league (I made the last part up).

James Douglass was #15. i still wear #15 in my rec league because of him. he was smooth.

Garrett is another one. he would have been all-MAC if he stayed all four years. that guy had skill on a whole other level.

Gino Smith is another one. i'll never forget his game against Cal. it was magic.

(01-25-2014 02:27 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Brad Soucie had perhaps the best jump shot I've seen from an EMU player since I've been watching them in the early to mid 80s. He was a freshman or maybe sophomore on EMU's first NCAA tournament team, the one lead by Grant Long.

In their first round NCAA game vs Pittsburgh, Grant Long got into early foul trouble against Pitt's famed front line. Soucie kept the team in the contest nearly by himself as he tied an NCAA tourney record with eight threes. It was his last game for EMU.

Soucie left Ben Braun's team for a small Christian college and later toured with prominent amateur teams that challenged top flight NCAA teams during the preseason.

Soucie has been in coaching now for some time and is currently the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Virginia.

Brad Soucie! Great call there. That guy was money! I remember him going off against Notre Dame. He had a picture perfect release.

Darius Moffett.

Gino Smith liked to kick police cars.

(01-27-2014 11:43 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Devontae Payne. He looked like an impressive QB.

He's at Findlay U.
http://athletics.findlay.edu/sports/fbal...epayne9o1s

(01-27-2014 01:33 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Darius Moffett.

Gino Smith liked to kick police cars.

Moffett is one I don't remember. He went to Shaw U.

http://www.shawbears.com/sports/fball/20...offett7typ

Richard Franklin was a pretty big time local recruit. Western and Central also wanted him. Thought he transferred to a small school in WV.

Tim O Conner RB out of Cleveland

This thread is getting absurd.

When I think of players 'that got away' I think of players who left early to the detriment of the EMU program which they competed.

Lot of the players now listed are players who either didn't have a ton of ability or didn't achieve and are essentially very, very forgettable former EMU athletes. (or even academics or behavioral issues).

I don't think of players like "Payne" or "Moffitt" as 'got away'. They had no future at EMU and left for lower level competition. I could go through the players listed in this thread and grab a bunch more.

Did Austin Harper 'get away?"

There are usually 5+ FB players who leave each year for one reason or another (e.g., PT, wanting to be closer to home, etc.) but rarely do we see an EMU athlete leave for a B1G school (or equivalent) or even transfer to another MAC program (which is rare these days).

I have yet to see our first 'revenue' sport graduate transfer. Am I wrong?

Steve, where you are wrong is calling down other poster's posts or viewpoints. Again sports is opinions and there is no right or wrong on opinions. People throw out names. You may agree with them and you may not, its doesn't make it absurd. No more than an opinion that Qua Barnes might be the second coming of Chris Archer.

(01-29-2014 09:57 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Steve, where you are wrong is calling down other poster's posts or viewpoints. Again sports is opinions and there is no right or wrong on opinions. People throw out names. You may agree with them and you may not, its doesn't make it absurd. No more than an opinion that Qua Barnes might be the second coming of Chris Archer.

My starting point, the theme of this thread, was stated, not by me, but by the author of the thread, and I quote:

"The ones that got away
This thread is going to be dedicated to accomplished or highly promising EMU athletes that left without completing their eligibility."

All I was trying to say is that a lot of the names named were not accomplished or highly promising athletes and were not in keeping with the thread starter's point.

He started with the highly accomplished women's T&F athlete, Newman, who left EMU and followed her coach to another school.

Before Braun left for Cal, CMU guard Thomas Kilgore transferred to Eastern. After enrolling at EMU he followed Braun to Cal was a two year starter at point guard and averaged about 14/game in the PAC 10.

At the same time Braun had received an oral commitment from a 6'7 undersized post player out of Chicago area named Sean Lampley to play at Eastern. Lampley signed with Cal the following fall. Lampley finished his career at California as the school's all time leading scorer and 4th all time rebounder and was named PAC 10 player of the year his senior season.

Keep in mind that these two would have been on the roster with Boykins, Dial, Head, Zajac, Ezugwu. One can only guess the heights that the program would have reached.

(01-29-2014 10:12 AM)emu steve Wrote:  My starting point, the theme of this thread, was stated, not by me, but by the author of the thread, and I quote:

"The ones that got away
This thread is going to be dedicated to accomplished or highly promising EMU athletes that left without completing their eligibility."

All I was trying to say is that a lot of the names named were not accomplished or highly promising athletes and were not in keeping with the thread starter's point.

He started with the highly accomplished women's T&F athlete, Newman, who left EMU and followed her coach to another school.

I think the key that people are basing "highly promising". How you define that is up for interpretation. You could certainly argue that as a 3 star linebacker, Darius Moffett was a promising athlete that didn't work out.

(01-29-2014 10:57 AM)mshumaker Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 10:12 AM)emu steve Wrote:  My starting point, the theme of this thread, was stated, not by me, but by the author of the thread, and I quote:

"The ones that got away
This thread is going to be dedicated to accomplished or highly promising EMU athletes that left without completing their eligibility."

All I was trying to say is that a lot of the names named were not accomplished or highly promising athletes and were not in keeping with the thread starter's point.

He started with the highly accomplished women's T&F athlete, Newman, who left EMU and followed her coach to another school.

I think the key that people are basing "highly promising". How you define that is up for interpretation. You could certainly argue that as a 3 star linebacker, Darius Moffett was a promising athlete that didn't work out.

Moffett, as I was told, did not have a good senior year in high school and I believe, but could be wrong, that he might have had academic issues.

Moffett might be the CLASSIC example of a player whose recruiting stock by those who follow the services who follow junior years was high on the Internet but much lower among those in IL who really knew.

BTW, it is coming back to me: I believe EdgyTim, the ace IL FB recruiting guru who 'told me' that Moffett's stock had fallen his senior year and B1G schools backed off. (I used to subscribe to his site and did post or e-mail once in a while about IL recruits early on during English's tenure).

Hint: Sometimes these so-called 3-star recruits we get are players who might have been rated 3-stars in their JUNIOR season but fell in their SENIOR year.

These ratings are not inscribed in stone.

Lot of 2 star juniors become 3-star seniors and some 3-star junior become 2-star seniors, although they aren't typically downgraded.

Usually when a player gets rated, it kind of sticks, for better or worse...

(01-29-2014 09:57 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Steve, where you are wrong is calling down other poster's posts or viewpoints...

Why is this wrong?

Probably a ton of posts on these boards are one poster saying something and someone else disagreeing.

Someone will post: "I think EMU will win the MAC West" and the fun begins.

Surely, folks disagreed with NUPudge when he went 'outside the box' and picked EMU to beat opponents esp. in 2012 and 2013 when they were distinct underdogs... yet no one took it personally.

If I had a dollar for every time someone disagreed with my posts, I could probably pay for a nice vacation.

TRUTH BE TOLD: I took a ton of hits for defending Murphy, Riley, and GB III in the last 12 months or so when folks wanted to run them out of town... (for those with short memories).

Be that as it may, measuring how promising a player is or isn't is still subjective. I might see someone and think they have unlimited potential, and you might see them and think they are a borderline D1 player. I just don't see why it is an issue for other people to think some players who they had high hopes for and didn't work out for whatever reason to be included in this thread. (Mind you, I haven't put any players in this thread, just adding a perspective)

I still find it discouraging that EMU’s commitments are all coming from players that are non-rated. Look at the lists of schools that were even interested in these guys, in most cases EMU was their only offer—or even school of interest.

I’m sorry, but I agree with that infamous Ann Arbor News article that stated EMU battles with Grand Valley for recruits. I know this is a difficult year with the coaching change, but so far it’s business as usual in Ypsi.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/footba...class/2014

(01-29-2014 12:02 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  Be that as it may, measuring how promising a player is or isn't is still subjective. I might see someone and think they have unlimited potential, and you might see them and think they are a borderline D1 player. I just don't see why it is an issue for other people to think some players who they had high hopes for and didn't work out for whatever reason to be included in this thread. (Mind you, I haven't put any players in this thread, just adding a perspective)

Agree. And if someone says they didn't have high hopes for Devontae Payne, a 6-5 QB who was looked at by Big 10 schools and who has a big-time arm, I definitely would not believe them. The reason he "got away" was due to inpatience. There is no denying the physical tools.