He was untouchable. A once-in-a-generation prospect, according to coaches and recruiting experts, the missing piece of the puzzle for programs from coast to coast. He was coveted, a term more generally used in Victorian-era novels and only when discussing members of the opposite sex, not the 18-year old — perhaps only 17 — potential-laden prospect whose dominating high school career had those infatuated with his physical skills genuflecting in his living room, pulling out all the stops to land his signature. Two years later, he was gone: a dream unfulfilled for the player, a waste of talent for a coach who expected more, just another missed prospect laid to rest in the recruiting graveyard......I’m merely saying that it’s a guessing game. Who thought that Marcus Dupree would play one-plus seasons at Oklahoma before drifting away, never to be heard from again? What signs were there to indicate that Xavier Crawford’s journey as the nation’s top recruit would lead him as far away from football as one can imagine? Who knows how Jadeveon Clowney’s career will go?...
