Campus Confidential

By Adam Abramson

The first stop on our stroll down memory lane is 2002.

At first glance, the class of the 21st century's first palindrome looked absolutely incredible. Names like Vince Young, Devin Hester, Darnell Bing, Haloti Ngata, Adam Abramson (yeah, it was my year too) and Quinn Pitcock were names that jumped out at me.

But the more I looked, I realized I was stretching for names such as Marcedes Lewis, Rhema McKnight, Reggie McNeal and Justin Miller to call it a GREAT class. Not that these guys are bad or were busts by any means, but names to anchor an entire recruiting class? Ayedunno.

I'll be using both Scout.com and Rivals.com for my analysis because it's my blog and I get to make the rules.

Scout.com's 2002 Top 100 Players
Rivals.com's 2002 Top 100 Players

Abramson's Top 10 players from the 2002 Top 100:

10. Justin Miller, Clemson CB
9. Buster Davis, Florida State LB
8. Devin Hester, Miami CB (right)
7. Doug Datish, Ohio State C
6. Winston Justice, Southern California OT
5. Justin Blalock, Texas OT
4. Quinn Pitcock, Ohio State DT
3. Kamerion Wimbley, Florida State LB
2. Haloti Ngata, Oregon DT
1. Vince Young, Texas QB

Some overlooked stars:

Shawne Merriman (Maryland OLB, 3-stars), Gaines Adams (Clemson DE, 2-stars), AJ Hawk (Ohio State LB, 3-stars), D'Qwell Jackson (Maryland LB, 1-star, but I feel this mighta been a mistake), Manny Lawson (North Carolina State LB, 1-star), John McCargo (North Carolina State DT, 1-star), Freeport’s D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Virginia OT, 3-star), and many, many more. Comment with your submissions.

Swing and misses:

Michael Johnson, Virginia RB. He was actually my first-ever interview. He was a trio of guys heading to Virginia (Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham being the other two) who were going to take Virginia to powerhouse status. Well, the back with lights out speed never became an impact player. The last I remember of him, he dropped a kick against Virginia Tech in 2005 (maybe two in the that game).

Chris Davis, Florida State WR. The No. 6 OVERALL player in the 2002 class. Here are his numbers after four years: 140 catches, 1,875 yards, 12 TDs. Not exactly living up to the hype.

Ryan Moore, Miami WR. If Chris Davis was a bust, then Ryan Moore is a bust + 100. Moore was considered by some to be the most dynamic high school WR in quite a while out of high school. His 2004 season was ruined by injury and he was suspended much of this past season. His career numbers were worse than Davis’: 93 catches, 1,437 yards, 11 TDs.

DiShon Platt, Florida State WR. Well, the No. 16 overall player never ended up at FSU because of academic issues. He then tried to get into South Florida but didn’t qualify there, apparently. Does this count? Let me know for future reference.

Mike D'Andrea, Ohio State LB. It looked as if this Parade All American was going to tear it up with AJ Hawk – he played in every game as a true freshman. The next three years? 17 games. Just a career riddled with injuries.

Marquis Johnson, Texas WR. Well, he ended up at Texas Tech after junior college. And I don’t think he’s done much there as well.

I almost put Marcus Vick on this list, so consider him a runner up bust. He did have an extremely good season starting for the Hokies, but the trouble outweighed the results. You be the judge.

I could go on with a bunch of names, but for time’s sake, I’ll let you submit some more names who you think didn’t pan out considering the hype.

Final thought (ala Jerry Springer, right?)

Florida State’s class was insane. That year the ‘Noles had the No. 4 class per Rivals and No. 6 on Scout. But check out these guys:

Lorenzo Booker, Broderick Bunkley, Buster Davis, Pat Watkins, Chauncey Stovall, Kamerion Wimbley, Leon Washington, Sam McGrew, Roger Williams, Darrell Burston -- little wonder FSU won the ACC Championship in 05 and played in the Orange Bowl when all of those guys were extreme studs.

Next up, 2003. Check in the Wed.-Thurs. range. You wanna talk about star power...just wait.