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Holy moly, former Georgia player Tyrique Stevenson finished out strong at Miami
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Holy moly, former Georgia player Tyrique Stevenson finished out strong at Miami
MOBILE, Ala. — Tyrique Stevenson found himself in tears watching Georgia play against TCU in the CFP Championship Game.
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Seems like a good guy... wish he'd stayed. Good for him for having strong family bonds; and also for setting himself up for success in The League. Unfortunately, unless he gets drafted by the Dolphins, he'll have to confront family separation again. Go Dawgs!
Will get down voted, but he was obviously tampered with before leaving uga. Harp on family, my brothers, etc, but still left because someone from that staff contacted him prior to leave. Manny Diaz is on record saying, "wish we had tyrique Stevenson". Couple days later, magically in the portal. Few days go by, and he's committed to Miami. So he left his "brothers". Doesn't really sound like a team kind of person to me.
@kylnmeg10
Do you apply the same standard to guys who transfer to UGA? Or just to guys that leave UGA? Are the WRs that UGA got from the portal "team guys"?
Why are we actually hyping someone who abandoned our team, was a starter, to go "back home?" I doubt that the motivating factor was "family." More likely: money. We should be doing this type of feature for all our transfer portal additions, not subtractions.
PS. Tyrique Stevenson was probably crying while watching the Dawgs win their second Natty because he will never have a national championship ring; rather, he will have a gold chain from "The U." Tyrique lost out big time. Very bad decision.
So what’s he good when he’s in the League? All he did by transferring back home was make leaving his family that much harder.
Also…thanks to the member who pointed out that Stevenson had to endure that same scenario twice.
Hope he does well, but this is definitely a cautionary tale.
He surely has regrets about the natties, but we really don't know his family situation that might make him at peace with it. The only person who knows reasons for making a decision is the person making that decision... assumptions, innuendo, speculation, hypotheses, etc. from others are just that. As a huge Georgia fan from/in South Florida, I'm familiar with the ties kids from South Florida have with their home, not unlike Georgia kids. And despite the current long run of futility, the University of Miami remains a strong pull for these guys. I'm thrilled anytime we can pull a kid like Sony Michel or Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint out of here, because it ain't easy. I'll take Stevenson's explanation of "family" as good enough because, in the end, it doesn't matter... seems like he's going to be just fine without us, and we were fine without him. Go Dawgs!
Depending on the scenarios. If you've graduated or were actually in bad conditions at a previous school. And the player actually buys in at UGA, a la Tykee Smith, even JT daniels. And as far the WRs you're speaking of, one probably won't be there much longer, pending whatever comes up in the legal system. And don't really know the back story to the other. He wants to go to a school that wins, as far as team guy. We'll see how that pans out. And the main guys I point back to is fields, mays, stevenson, and I'm sure there are others, just can't pinpoint right now. And if a player leaves uga for better playing time, then that's understandable too. As we've seen so far this off-season. But this situation is 100% tampering if there ever was, just like the Addison to USC scenario last offseason.
I have a hard time believing the heart strings excuses. He should just admit that, for whatever his reasons, he changed his mind. I don't buy the "cried" thing. Though, I can believe he cried when he looks back on missing out on a couple of Nattys. Why bother with these stories? Give paragraphs to the guys who are on the team.
Fields was an "interesting" situation. It took him four months and the end of the season to feel unsafe at UGa.
@kylnmeg10
Stevenson prefers to play CB instead of star. The reason: CB financial prospects are much better. Every NFL team starts 2 CBs, and starting CBs get paid very well. Meanwhile not every NFL team uses a star. The few who do only have 1 starter and they don't get paid comparatively well. Pittsburgh's Cam Sutton is in the peak earning period of his career yet is playing on a 2 year deal that guarantees $3.5 million. Note that Stevenson is projected to go #47 to the Redskins. The guy who went in that spot last year - also to the Redskins - signed a rookie deal that had $3.8 million guaranteed.
Maybe if Stevenson sticks around at UGA, he beats out Ringo and Lassister for one of the CB spots. But not likely. Ringo will likely go in the 1st round, and NFL draft projections have Lassister anywhere from late 1st to mid-2nd. So it is a similar deal with Jermaine Johnson last year: a guy who traded a college championship ring for leaving UGA to get drafted in the 1st round instead of the third. Johnson got $13 million in guaranteed money. Meanwhile Channing Tindall, 3rd rounder, got $5 million overall with $800,000 guaranteed.
Stevenson was going to continue to get playing time, but not all playing time is equal in terms of positioning your NFL earning potential. At the very worst, you can accuse Stevenson of choosing NFL money over college championships.
Tyrique talks about giving himself a chance to mature, wouldn't staying at Georgia have been the mature thing to do, he was going to be a starter, so it couldn't have been playing time, and he was going to have to leave his family when he goes to the NFL, so what other thing could have prompt him to leave Georgia, the only thing that could tempt a player that was in his position is money, and I can't blame him if that was the case, but none of these other things he said sounds kosher.
All valid points. Excuse one major flaw, Tindall was an inside backer. Johnson was on the outside. Johnson was one of the exceptions. He was in the middle of an extremely talented position group. Yet, he could've stayed. He was easily gonna be the starter. No hard feelings to Johnson. He didn't give off some boohoo story. He came in as a juco player. So he was gonna chase his best opportunity going forward.
And to add to this. The whole AD Mitchell thing right now, is also pushing the envelope between legit and tampering.
@kylnmeg10
AD Mitchell first. I mentioned this in a past comment: while it is illegal for a college to contact a player - and quite possibly his direct family/members of his household - before he gets into the portal it is perfectly legal to contact everybody else. What is generally done is to contact the player's high school coach, who then passes it on that a program is interested. Friends, cousins, former high school teammates etc. of the player? Legal to contact them all. So honestly tampering isn't even necessary.
Also, would Jermaine Johnson have been a starter had Adam Anderson not gotten arrested? No way. Johnson would have been behind a pair of first round picks. Also, you see a "boo hoo" sob story. I see a guy who is giving all the credit in the world to his teammates, his time in Athens and especially his former coach Kirby Smart for helping him get to where he was today. He just wasn't going to get there in Athens because UGA had better guys in front of him. Plus Stevenson, 6 feet 215 lbs (as big as LBs in some Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC programs) but with CB skills actually was ideal to play star at UGA.
The main difference between you and me is that you see leaving a team that wins 2 national titles as a flaw - of character, mindset or priorities - of somekind. I see a guy choosing to put himself in the best position to earn generational wealth. As elite performers in every other field - law, finance, engineering, entertainment, coaching - does this, I see it as self-explanatory.
And yes, I did include coaching. No one begrudges Dan Lanning for choosing a $29 million contract at Oregon - where he isn't particularly likely to ever win another title - over staying at UGA to be in the hunt every year and still making $1.7 million a year in the process. Now Lanning could have done like Kirby did at Alabama: hung around for a decade to amass titles as a coordinator and still gotten pretty much any job in the country that he wanted. Lanning was only 35 when he left. He had plenty of time and was going to make a ton of money either way. By contrast, Stevenson had only a 3-5 year window to position himself for the NFL draft. And unlike Lanning and his $1.7 million a year, until NIL this year (again a development that he could not have anticipated) Stevenson wasn't making a dime.
Yes, they are college athletes who represent a university along with its tradition and fans. But they also have a responsibility to take care of their professional careers and earning potential to the best of their ability. I will start resenting college athletes for doing that during the tiny window of opportunity that they have when fans start resenting the coaches - who have a much longer window - for doing the same.