Oklahoma football: 5 biggest busts of the modern recruiting era

These five Oklahoma football players remind us that nothing is ever certain in recruiting and even the experts and coaches occasionally miss on “can’t miss” recruits.

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any college football program and the Sooners have scored some big wins in recent years, but not even the best evaluator can predict the future. These five players all came in with hype only to fizzle out and underperform as Sooners.

Jermie Calhoun, running back – Class of 2008

Jermie Calhoun was a guy who came in to Oklahoma with all the talent needed to be successful and then some. Ranked the No. 2 running back in the 2008 class out of Van High School, many around the state of Texas called Calhoun the best running back prospect to come out of the Lone Star State since Adrian Peterson.

Calhoun even got the benefit of a redshirt season in 2008 with the Sooners already loaded at the position with Demarco Murray and Chris Brown. While he was able to sit and learn, his inability to rise up the depth chart in 2009 was enough to cause some concern among Sooner fans who had been following his career.

He finally showed some of massive promise later in the 2009 season with a 94-yard game against Texas A&M, but it would turn out to be the high-water mark of his OU career.

He hurt his knee in 2010 and rather than battle for carries the following year he chose to transfer to Angelo State University to finish out his career. He had a solid collegiate career at Angelo State, but never drew enough attention to find his way to the NFL.

Unlike some other names on this list there was never a shocking moment that defines or punctuates Calhoun’s time in Norman. He was just a guy who never quite developed into the player many thought he had the potential to be.