Friday, March 19, 2010

Bryce Brown is soooo predictable

Remember Bryce Brown? Last year's top prospect nationally (according to Rivals) who sort of committed to Miami, sort of decommitted, then dragged out his recruitment forever before finally signing with Tennessee?

He and top-ranked all-purpose back David Oku both ended up in Knoxville after deciding that they really loved the recruiting process (I like to picture the two of them at McDonald's, staring at the menu for 10 minutes because they can't decide what they want). I said this exactly one year ago yesterday:
Brown and Oku might both be upstanding young men, but what are the odds one of these guys transfers by his junior year? 99 percent?
In hindsight, 99 percent might have been a little low. According to VolunteerTV, Brown is no longer a part of the team at Tennessee and is looking to transfer, possibly to Kansas State. If you're wondering (rightfully) why anyone would want to play at K-State, Bryce's older brother (and a former stud linebacker recruit himself) Arthur just transferred there from Miami. And if you're still wondering why anyone good would want to go to K-State, the Browns grew up in Wichita. Family matters, I suppose.

It's times like these when I fantasize about a casino where I can place bets on things like "Will Bryce Brown graduate from the University of Tennessee?" I need to call the State Gaming Board about this.

Anyway, Derek Dooley goes for the understatement of the year:
“(He has) concerns that I believe stem from -- and he told me stem from -- No.1, some of the reasons why he came here, and No. 2, his experience over the first six months he has been here. ... He’s dealing with a lot of issues.”
Indeed. This is what happens when you have a less-than-respectable agent/handler/manager from the time you're a junior in high school and never learn how to make decisions for yourself.

Wherever he ends up, I just hope it's where Bryce Brown wants to be and NOT where Brian Butler wants Bryce Brown to be. And I hope he sticks around long enough to get some use out of his gobs of talent -- if he doesn't, I'll probably look back in a couple years and regret wasting so much time writing about him.

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