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

I'm no Superfan, but I try to follow something of all EMU sports. After the first few track meets I noticed that a very prominent name was missing from the women's track results.

Alysha Newman was an outstanding freshman pole vaulter for EMU last year. She was second team all-American and one of the top junior vaulters in the world. She has very legitimate hopes of making an Olympic team.

When I didn't see her name on meet results or the roster I did an Internet search and found that she had transferred to Miami (FL). Her vaulting coach at EMU, Jerel Langley, took a job there and Alysha followed.

I don't know if it was a package deal Langley made, sort of like, "You give me a job and I'll bring a future Olympian." Regardless, it smells bad.

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.

Antonio Gates.

Adam Hess

Jerome Harrison

Thanks for chipping in guys. I was hoping for some other examples.

Antonio Gates was a two sport star in HS and was recruited to play football for MSU where they envisioned him to be a pass rushing DE. He wanted to play basketball. I'm not sure about the details, but he transferred to EMU to play both sports. (Why didn't MSU let him play basketball? MSU is never that good.)

As I recall he didn't last more than a few sessions with the football team before he was kicked off.

He managed to stay with the basketball team for less than two seasons before he was kicked off it too. I once read a story where he said that Jim Boone and his staff had no choice but to kick him off, but he didn't say precisely what he had done.

Adam Hess was once a promising basketball player with both a good reputation in the classroom and on the court. His accomplishments were modest, but he showed signs of being a quality, if not star player. I believe he transferred after Milton Barnes was fired. He went on to have a very solid career at William & Mary.

RB Jerome Harrison was a huge loss to the football team. He transferred to a CC before ever playing a down for EMU, but he was enrolled here.

After his stint at the CC, he moved on to Washington State where he is second on their all-time rushing list. I believe that he even led the nation in rushing one year. Then he had a modest career in the NFL, gaining about 900 yards in his best season.

I read a story that he left EMU because he was always traveling back and forth to his home in Kalamazoo. Maybe he later matured and became more comfortable away from home because his explanation that Ypsilanti was too far conflicts with his later transfer to WSU.

(01-25-2014 07:40 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Thanks for chipping in guys. I was hoping for some other examples.

Antonio Gates was a two sport star in HS and was recruited to play football for MSU where they envisioned him to be a pass rushing DE. He wanted to play basketball. I'm not sure about the details, but he transferred to EMU to play both sports. (Why didn't MSU let him play basketball? MSU is never that good.)

As I recall he didn't last more than a few sessions with the football team before he was kicked off.

He managed to stay with the basketball team for less than two seasons before he was kicked off it too. I once read a story where he said that Jim Boone and his staff had no choice but to kick him off, but he didn't say precisely what he had done.

Adam Hess was once a promising basketball player with both a good reputation in the classroom and on the court. His accomplishments were modest, but he showed signs of being a quality, if not star player. I believe he transferred after Milton Barnes was fired. He went on to have a very solid career at William & Mary.

RB Jerome Harrison was a huge loss to the football team. He transferred to a CC before ever playing a down for EMU, but he was enrolled here.

After his stint at the CC, he moved on to Washington State where he is second on their all-time rushing list. I believe that he even led the nation in rushing one year. Then he had a modest career in the NFL, gaining about 900 yards in his best season.

I read a story that he left EMU because he was always traveling back and forth to his home in Kalamazoo. Maybe he later matured and became more comfortable away from home because his explanation that Ypsilanti was too far conflicts with his later transfer to WSU.

Harrison (affectionately known as JC) was one of my residents his Freshman year. He was also a very good basketball player. He and Greg Jennings won a state title with Kalamazoo Central. He also played on an intramural hoop squad that we got funded to go play in the national intramural tournament. They were a good team and finished pretty well too.

(01-25-2014 07:40 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Thanks for chipping in guys. I was hoping for some other examples.

Antonio Gates was a two sport star in HS and was recruited to play football for MSU where they envisioned him to be a pass rushing DE. He wanted to play basketball. I'm not sure about the details, but he transferred to EMU to play both sports. (Why didn't MSU let him play basketball? MSU is never that good.)

As I recall he didn't last more than a few sessions with the football team before he was kicked off.

He managed to stay with the basketball team for less than two seasons before he was kicked off it too. I once read a story where he said that Jim Boone and his staff had no choice but to kick him off, but he didn't say precisely what he had done.

Adam Hess was once a promising basketball player with both a good reputation in the classroom and on the court. His accomplishments were modest, but he showed signs of being a quality, if not star player. I believe he transferred after Milton Barnes was fired. He went on to have a very solid career at William & Mary.

RB Jerome Harrison was a huge loss to the football team. He transferred to a CC before ever playing a down for EMU, but he was enrolled here.

After his stint at the CC, he moved on to Washington State where he is second on their all-time rushing list. I believe that he even led the nation in rushing one year. Then he had a modest career in the NFL, gaining about 900 yards in his best season.

I read a story that he left EMU because he was always traveling back and forth to his home in Kalamazoo. Maybe he later matured and became more comfortable away from home because his explanation that Ypsilanti was too far conflicts with his later transfer to WSU.

Antonio Gates ended up at Kent State where he played only basketball. I believe his teams got to the round of 16 and possibly the round of eight in the NCAA tournament.

Despite his basketball accomplishments and his lack of football experience, Gates went on to become an all-pro TE for the San Diego Chargers where he still plays.

(01-25-2014 09:26 PM)KPJ Wrote:  

(01-25-2014 07:40 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Thanks for chipping in guys. I was hoping for some other examples.

Antonio Gates was a two sport star in HS and was recruited to play football for MSU where they envisioned him to be a pass rushing DE. He wanted to play basketball. I'm not sure about the details, but he transferred to EMU to play both sports. (Why didn't MSU let him play basketball? MSU is never that good.)

As I recall he didn't last more than a few sessions with the football team before he was kicked off.

He managed to stay with the basketball team for less than two seasons before he was kicked off it too. I once read a story where he said that Jim Boone and his staff had no choice but to kick him off, but he didn't say precisely what he had done.

Adam Hess was once a promising basketball player with both a good reputation in the classroom and on the court. His accomplishments were modest, but he showed signs of being a quality, if not star player. I believe he transferred after Milton Barnes was fired. He went on to have a very solid career at William & Mary.

RB Jerome Harrison was a huge loss to the football team. He transferred to a CC before ever playing a down for EMU, but he was enrolled here.

After his stint at the CC, he moved on to Washington State where he is second on their all-time rushing list. I believe that he even led the nation in rushing one year. Then he had a modest career in the NFL, gaining about 900 yards in his best season.

I read a story that he left EMU because he was always traveling back and forth to his home in Kalamazoo. Maybe he later matured and became more comfortable away from home because his explanation that Ypsilanti was too far conflicts with his later transfer to WSU.

Harrison (affectionately known as JC) was one of my residents his Freshman year. He was also a very good basketball player. He and Greg Jennings won a state title with Kalamazoo Central. He also played on an intramural hoop squad that we got funded to go play in the national intramural tournament. They were a good team and finished pretty well too.

Harrison played for the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles. The Detroit Lions picked him up in August of 2011. During the team physical the doctor looked into his eyes and he was ordered to get a CT scan of his brain. (I'm not in the medical field, but I suspect that his eye did not respond normally to light.) A tumor was discovered.

The tumor was benign, but ended his playing career. He reportedly suffers from seizures.

Matt Finlay was a LB from Tornonto for the Hurons in the 80s. I'm quite sure that he had eligibility remaining when he was drafted in the first round of the CFL draft and left to play professional football in Canada, where he had a successful career of about nine seasons.

Carl Brown was a speedy point guard for EMU sometime around 1985. He managed to play only one half season for the Hurons, but it looked like he was going to be a very good player.

I believe he was one of Jim Boyce's last recruits. Mid-season Brown and at least two other players were put out for the season, I believe for academic reasons. It was the undoing of Boyce's career at EMU.

Carl Brown transferred to Arkansas Little-Rock where his name is prominent as one of their all-time greats. Scoring, three point shooting, free throw shooting, assists, his name appears multiple times in their record books in each category.

Brown led Little-Rock to at least two NCAA tournament appearances and played many years of professional ball in Europe.

Kainoa Akina.

Promising true freshman QB. Transferred to Hawaii to back up Timmy Chang for the rest of his career.

Cornell Warner
CJ Grantham

(01-26-2014 01:41 PM)holybovine Wrote:  Kainoa Akina.

Promising true freshman QB. Transferred to Hawaii to back up Timmy Chang for the rest of his career.

I didn't think he was a very good college QB.

(01-26-2014 01:49 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Cornell Warner
CJ Grantham

Calvin Warner?

I'm thinking about the one who played high school baskeball in Florida, played at EMU and then transferred to Jacksonville.

I mentioned it in a different thread, but Devan Dumes. Ended up being a good player for Indiana. Was offered by many teams after Ramsey ran him off for JC.

(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.

(01-26-2014 02:59 PM)TimBuck2 Wrote:  I mentioned it in a different thread, but Devan Dumes. Ended up being a good player for Indiana. Was offered by many teams after Ramsey ran him off for JC.

Dumes was a very talented player from Indiana. He was a prize recruit for EMU. He only played one season here, but averaged about eight points, not bad for a freshman.

Dumes had lots of problems and he still has them.

From EMU he went to Vincennes JC in IN where he led a good team in scoring. Then it was on to Indiana for two seasons. Indiana had a bad team at the time, but Dumes lead them in scoring as a junior.

Last year he was arrested twice for serious criminal behavior. He recently was tried, but not convicted for attempted murder. He also had charges dropped for firing a weapon into a home with his brother. But he still faces drug and gun charges for yet another incident.

(01-26-2014 01:51 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(01-26-2014 01:41 PM)holybovine Wrote:  Kainoa Akina.

Promising true freshman QB. Transferred to Hawaii to back up Timmy Chang for the rest of his career.

I didn't think he was a very good college QB.

He was inconsistent (not surprising for a true frosh), but had a couple of monster games down the stretch.

There's no telling how he would have turned out here, but I was disappointed when he left.