The House of Blue

Hate to lose talent, even at a position of depth. It's strange, I dread the fan reaction to this news much more than the impact it will have this season. Even so, good luck to the young man and I hope he gets where he wants to go.

Adree, the guy had every chance to make a move on the depth-chart and for various reasons it just never happened. IMO he would have been buried even further when the freshmen get to campus in the fall.

Just means another open scholarship for the next class.

We can afford to lose a few guys at tailback if need be.

I fail to see how you have quality depth with kids that don't perform on the field. Replacing 4th string kids with scholarships for possibly better talent is a trade off every school in the country will take all day long.

He was available late because he had waited too long to accept and UNC and UM filled up. Higgs is his HS coach and called Joker. He was promising but like everyone said he never got himself together to take advantage of the opportunities before him. I think the writing was on the wall when he had to sit out this spring because of grades. Good luck to him.

The sky may not be falling cause Gainer left, but I can't believe the "no big deal" attitude some of you are expressing about the situation. It also amazes me that the same people that act like it's no big deal when something negative happens are also the one's pointing fingers and calling others LOD. Why do none of the 4 stars UK recruits ever see the field? I don't have the answer, but deny it or not, this is a fact. Losing Gainer sucks. I mean, first people hype guys like Gainer big time, as if they are going to be program changers, and use them as reasons to point out that UK is making progress. Then, when they don't work out, they weren't good enough anyway? If all the guys that are supposed to help us progress never see the field, we aren't progressing as much as some of you try to say. I think if you were honest and went back and looked, about 50% + of Jokers best recruits will never see the field. Again, I'm not saying this is the end of the world, but to try and spin it like it's anything but a bummer is just a refusal to deal with reality!

it is very disappointing as I had high hopes for Gainer when he signed as did alot of us. I'm sad to hear of his loss, but he had every opportunity to work his way up and like was said, was snakebit by one thing or another. I hope he gets on track somewhere else and sets the world on fire, but just not against UK. He had fumbleitis, I would rather he leave now that he can get a fresh start than to have him on the field in a meaningful game, and fumble away the ball when we were going down to score the winning touchdown, and then have him vindicated. Sometimes they don't work out

He was running 5th string at tailback and could never work his way up. Heck, he wasn't even practicing this spring due to academics. So, in this case, yea, it's not really a big deal. UK has FOUR solid backs still to use and TWO more coming in the summer that have potential. It's a shame that it didn't work but it's not a program devastating loss. More importantly, it gives the 2013 class another scholarship where there aren't many available (up to 16 now). Good luck to him wherever he ends up.

Here we go again.

I see some peoples point when asking why is it almost all of our 4 stars never pan out. I really do wonder why? We have bad luck when it comes to these things. While I do think guys like Alvin Dupree, Ashley Lowery, Christian Coleman (IMO made the biggest impact at the toughest spot as a freshman) and guys like Clemons should have all easily been 4 star recruits but the services got it wrong like they sometimes do. All of those guys were very mature 18 year olds like most all 4 star players are, they are also very versitile players. The services ranking system is right more than it is wrong but again I just wonder why it seems like almost all our 4 stars never pan out. Personally I was a big fan of Gainer, as a Freshman I thought he was really going to be something special however for his game to really shine I 100% feel he needed to develop into the 220# range but he never did. He was powerfull like Clemons he just lacked the break away ability, he also had good balance, hands and cutting ability. But ball security hurt him show those assets off. Please guys do not ever think it was because of ability because he is talented he just needs to get serious in the weight room. It really sucks because I think we need a 220# thumper back like Gainer could have been.

I really hope Mobley, Clemons or Taylor can be these guys in a year or two. Mobley has a great frame to be a 220# rb without ever loosing any speed, Taylor does to but alot of people are saying he's in the 5'9 range similar to George which is fine but it's hard to be 220+ at that size, 210-215 is about the right size for a 5'9 RB. Trent Richardson is about the only 5'8-5'9 225+# Rb you'll see that still has all the qualities to be a every down back. Clemons is already very powerfull if he doesn't get his speed all the way back I hope he really tries hard to get his size up similar to how a Willis Magahee done after college, I just hope Clemons can do it by this time next year, if he doesn't get all his speed and quickness back. Clemons has great genetics there's a good chance by this time next year he could be 220# and have his speed, if he could do that, that would really help offset Gainer not ever being the kid we needed him to be, from what I saw at FD Clemons has every bit as good of genetics as any RB we will ever land.

I would like to see us land a strong 180-190# scat back, who is a real threat to take it to the house from anywhere. A guy that has legit 4.3-4.5 speed with very very good quickness, that would be great. That would help us in so many areas namely special teams... I hope Joker can find this type of kid in this class because in our pass-first off (when Randy and Joker's skill guys are solid) I think a guy similar to a Derrick Locke fits our prefered scheme alot better.

With the rb's we have it would be great if we could become more of a down-hill running team that mixes play-action and a strong screen game in. I would love that so much more than chucking it 40 times a game like we did with Hartline and even Woodson, reason being that would give us the chance to be alot better in the red-zone and short yardage situations. Nobody can deny if we were just alittle stronger up front and in the backfield back during Hartline and Woodson's tenure we could have knocked off TN and a few other teams alot easier and earlier. A Ark type offense that controls the ball on the ground alittle more than Randy and Joker's system would also allow us to stay alot more fresh on defense too... Under Woodson and Hartline we scored alot and that was great but our defense was on the field alot more as well. I'm not asking for a off like GA tech that has the ball 75% of the game and rolls up 30 first downs and only scores 3 td's but Just imagine how much more effective we could have been if Braxton, Peters, Pryor, Jarmon, Woodyard, Jenkins, Lindley and WIlliams were fresher... I really think with the addition of all these bigger backs and incoming O-lineman our offense will have no choice but to head in that direction without the superb speed and agility that guys like Locke and Cobb (in the wild-cat) gave us on the edge... With Patrick Towles and Jalen Whitlows athleticism we could also become a good zone-read team like we used with Roark against TN. Having a passing threat when going with the wild-cat could really help open the field back up for us and get 7 or 8 guys out of the box even during shot-gun or single back sets like this past year... The scheme could be like I said anything from a spread-motion run first, zone read attack to a balanced Pro-style attack that runs alot of power off-tackle like Ark or even similar to how Vandy's off is evolving. I love the multiple schemes, we are now starting to get the horses that we should be able to be as multiple as anyone in our conference as long as we can get some solid OT's, WR's... GO CATS!!!

That thought seems to be really accurate for 2010 class

Gainer (wanted to go to UNC but was out of room)
Priester (originally was commited to Vandy)
Delic (originally commited to Maryland)
Laughlin (originally commited to Maryland)
Alex Smith (commited to Cincy, then UNC, then us)
Tim Patterson (grew up a huge UL fan)

Micah Johnson and Corey Peters both turned out fine as 4* talent at UK...