What Did Brown do for Me?

As an avid follower of Miami Hurricanes, I have obviously been in the loop on the whole Bryce Brown saga. My personal thoughts about it? Good luck, good bye, and good riddance! You can't miss what you never fully had. Although he committed almost immediately after signing day last year, anybody who follows recruiting should know never to trust "verbals" until they are signing on the line and faxing it to their respective schools.

I personally think that Brown is putting undue pressure on himself to become a SEC Freshman of the Year and freshman All-American. Anything less would and should be a disappointment. It's already hard enough to come into college as a freshman and adjust to life on your own as a college student. You're dealing with the girls and classes and parties. For Brown, it will also be the boosters and 100,000k+ fans that will fill Neyland Stadium for home games. Simply put, he can't just be decent or good next season. He has to be great.

Truthfully, Brown looks like he will be a special talent for the Vols, but here is where I have to show some bias: he is not the kind of player that UM needs. The "U" that I remember wouldn't need a five-star recruit from out of state to get the job done. I believe that Lamar Miller and Mike James will come in and represent the Hurricanes well because they want to be there. These young backs coming in remind me of Willis McGahee and Clinton Portis. Not necessarily physically, but one if from Miami and the other is coming from upstate in Florida.

There are certainly other precedents for high-profile recruits not panning out at UM. Kyle Wright and Tyrone Moss are two that stick out in my mind. I'm not saying Brown won't work out for Tennessee and new Head Coach Lane Kiffin, but he's better off there than here.

Besides, who knows what Kiffin did to get him there?