So every now and then I'll be watching a football game and the backup QB will get hurt and they'll put in Todd Collins and a friend will go, "who the fuck is Todd Collins," I'll be like, "I think he had a pretty good run one year for the Redskins about 5 years back." Or I'll be watching a basketball game and see Rashard Lewis brick four 3-pointers in a row and think to myself, "What the fuck happened to Jonathan Bender??"

Although this thread isn't really about the Todd Collins' of the world, but more about the Jonathan Benders and other high draft picks in all sports that never really panned out and you're wondering what the fuck they are doing right now.

The guy who actually got me thinking about starting this thread was Dajuan Wagner:



I was reading an article about Deshawn Stevenson cracking the starting lineup for the Mavs and for some reason the "What the fuck ever happened to Dajuan Wagner??" thought popped into my head. For the casual sports fan, he was a highly touted high school player who once scored 100 points in a game (I remember watching the video and he would cross half-court and just start bombing threes...it was pretty ridiculous), went to Memphis for a year, and was a high first round draft pick by the Cavs. So I go the google/wikipedia route and find out the guy had his damn colon removed:

Quote :

"Forced out of the league by debilitating health problems early into his career, he is currently making a professional comeback after undergoing major surgery to remove his colon."

Apparently he had colitis, which if you look up the description, sounds pretty fucking gross and painful (it's also what sidelined our own Tony Bethel for about half the season a few years back). Wikipedia last mentioned that he signed a 1-year contract to play somewhere in Poland back in '07...so I'm pretty sure he's done playing now. Despite his health problems, I doubt he would have amounted to much because he was an undersized scoring guard who didn't have the best shooting percentages. He would probably be a solid 6th man at best right now.

Jonathan Bender was another one. He skipped college and was a top pick for the Raptors about 10 years ago:



I remember reading an article about him after his first couple of years with the Pacers and I thought he still had a chance to be an All-Star type player (had a pretty money 3-point shot for being 6'11" and could handle the ball really well). I think him and Al Harrington were suppose to be the young guns that were going to help lead the Pacers back to the top of the Eastern Conference (his last year in the playoffs with them they almost made it to the Finals), but he just never seemed to take that next step. Only other noteworthy thing I found on wikipedia was this:

Quote :

"In 2005, Bender was rated by Sports Illustrated as #11 on the list of the 20 biggest busts in modern NBA draft history."

Just to make sure this isn't all basketball (which I think you could do it for a ton of the high school guys that never made it, but those last two always stuck out to me), I'll add Drew Henson for football:

Henson was a high school phenom in both football and baseball while being named Gatorade High School Player of the Year. He was drafted in the 3rd round by the Yankees, but went to play football (and baseball) at Michigan instead. Sat behind Brady for a couple years before having a pretty big junior season and then got drafted by the Texans in the later rounds.

He bounced around the minors for a little while and this was all he did in the Majors:

Quote :

"Henson made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2002, but played in only three games. He struck out in his only at-bat. In 2003 he played in five games for New York, going one for eight and scoring two runs. He ended his brief major league career with only one hit in nine at bats (a .111 average) before announcing his retirement. "

Lots of people will remember for trying to make his comeback (is it a comeback if you never really played??) in the NFL a few years back with the Cowboys. I remember Jerry Jones making a big deal about him coming back and he actually got some press in his workouts because of his "natural ability." After playing like shit in his only opportunities, I completely forgot about him. Since I feel like this thread would be useless (I'm sure it will be deemed useless anyways) if I just said the name and made everyone else do the searching, here are the interesting things I found on his wikipedia page:

Quote :

"In 2005, Henson had a poor training camp showing and landed third on the depth chart behind Drew Bledsoe and Tony Romo. After the 2005 campaign, Parcells announced that Drew Henson would be allocated to NFL Europe league to work on his skills. In 2006, Henson was assigned to the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe, where he almost led them to the World Bowl only to finish third behind the Frankfurt Galaxy and the Amsterdam Admirals. Shortly after the signing of quarterback Daunte Culpepper, Henson was waived by the Lions on November 12 when the team claimed wide receiver Adam Jennings off waivers from the Atlanta Falcons. Henson was re-signed to the team's practice squad two days later.[5] On November 24, Henson was signed to a two year contract off the practice squad to become number 2 on the depth chart behind Daunte Culpepper. After relieving Culpepper in the 4th quarter of the 2008 Lions' Thanksgiving Day game, Henson was 1-for-2 passing, and fumbled on back-to-back plays. Culpepper also came out of a subsequent game for the final play of the fourth quarter where Henson stepped in and was sacked."

What a shitty last game.

Just for the baseball guys, I give you Ben Grieve. Most baseball people probably won't give a shit about Grieve, but he's noteworthy to me because his rookie year came about in my last few years of really caring about baseball. I use to watch every possible game that came on TV, frequent viewer of TWIB, and enjoyed the baseball highlights of Sportscenter more than any other aspect of the program. I also still collected baseball cards at the time, and the Ben Grieve's rookie card was my last big purchase. I followed him a lot during his rookie year and I really thought I was watching a future Hall of Famer. I was incredibly incorrect. My move into the "not giving a shit about baseball" was pretty fast and I never followed up on the value of the Grieve rookie card. Every now and then I would think about 'ol Benjamin, but then I would remember that I didn't care about baseball and the thought would exit as quickly as it entered. So here's what I found out about what happened to the once promising outfielder of the Oakland A's:

Quote :

"Grieve's baseball career was plagued by accusations of lack of motivation, arising chiefly from his results having been disappointing relative to his apparent talent. Grieve admitted in an article in Devil Rays Magazine in 2002 that basketball was his primary love in high school, but baseball was the sport at which he most excelled. "

Feel free to add your own, "Where are they Now?" or maybe better, "What the Fuck Every Happened to?" (which is what I would have liked to name this topic, but didn't want to use the word "fuck") athlete.

[Edited on December 13, 2010 at 12:30 PM. Reason : .]

12/13/2010 12:23:08 PM

That's too much reading for a time when I am not taking a shit. So, I will come back to this thread later.

12/13/2010 12:24:56 PM

The other Where Are They Now threads: where are they now?

12/13/2010 12:25:47 PM

I present to you: Gavin Grant



http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4313403/

12/13/2010 12:32:12 PM

Bojangles

12/13/2010 12:37:17 PM

Words are they now


holy fuck

12/13/2010 1:10:13 PM

I read it and it was interesting...

And anyone who attempts to turn this in to a Dennis Horner thread is a fag of the worst kind. You know who you are.

12/13/2010 1:15:54 PM

Quality post jbrick, I commend you and look forward to future updates

12/13/2010 1:16:11 PM

Quote :

"Words are they now holy fuck "

I bolded shit and put pictures in for the retards like yourself.

^ and ^^. Thanks...all I need is a troll post from Slave Famous and I will feel like my thread has been validated.

12/13/2010 1:18:32 PM

The whole Brien Taylor saga would fit good in this thread. It was covered in a previous thread though and I am not digging up the link.

Another guy I always wondered what happened to was KiJana Carter. Dude averaged like 10 ypc his last year at Penn State, was a high pick by the Bengals, and then was awful in the NFL.

12/13/2010 1:35:20 PM

where have all the cowboys gone?

12/13/2010 1:50:03 PM

seeing ben greive made me think of sean green for some reason...never realized he retired in 2008. i thought he was just washed up and riding the bench somewhere.

12/13/2010 1:50:32 PM

Ki-Jana Carter...I think he got hurt pretty early in his career and was just never able to come back. Wikipedia time...

Ki-Jana Carter: (google's related searches said "Akili Smith"...ha)

Quote :

"His nickname, "Ki-Jana", is from a character in the movie Shaft in Africa and Carter has gone by that name since his birth. After being selected as the number one overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament on his third carry of his first preseason NFL game of his rookie year. After never fully recovering, Carter compiled 1,144 rushing yards in ten seasons. Carter is now an entrepreneur and sports blogger at OPENSports.com. He founded Byoglobe, a sanitation technology company specializing in disinfection of MRSA-prone facilities, in 2008. He serves as the Sunrise, Florida-based company's chief executive officer."

Damn...I remember him getting hurt early, but that's about as early as they get. And check out this sick lineup when he was at Penn State:

Quote :

"Carter was a standout player at Penn State along with a strong group of offensive players including future NFL starters Jeff Hartings, Joe Jurevicius, Kerry Collins, OJ McDuffie, Bobby Engram and Kyle Brady. Together this explosive offense propelled the 1994 Penn State team to a 12-0 undefeated season."

And since google asked for it, Akili Smith:



What a hilarious SI Cover. Can't really call it a jinx seeing that neither one of those guys should have that much hype. Couch had horrible arm strength and was one of the first in a long line of "system qbs" that were starting to pop up in college football with ridiculous numbers (most originating from Texas Tech and Hawaii). I think Jared Lorenzen was probably a better QB at Kentucky, and if he didn't work out at QB, you could have at least put his fat ass on the line. Anyways, back to Akili...how the fuck did this guy get drafted so high (3rd pick)?? He had one big senior season, and that was it.

Let's see what wikipedia has to say:

Quote :

"Prior to the draft, there was an effort by New Orleans Saints' head coach Mike Ditka and management to get the Bengals' high draft position so the Saints could get Ricky Williams."

I think Ditka would have sucked a couple dicks for Ricky Williams during that draft. That shit was ridiculous. Anyone remember when Williams signed Master P as his agent?? Then Master P got him an almost completely incentives-laden contract that would have only paid Williams a shit ton of money if he were to put up record numbers every year? What a fucking idiot. Okay...back to Smith:

Quote :

"the Bengals stayed with their initial decision to draft Smith, who, while athletic, (he had also played two years of minor-league baseball and ran a 4.66 40-yard dash) was still largely unproven, having only succeeded at the college level for one season. Smith missed large periods of 1999 training camp due to contract disputes; many pundits later speculated that his absence from this part of training camp hurt him in the seasons to come. Despite showing athleticism in his early games, he failed to grasp the Bengals playbook fully, and never established himself with the team. During the four years he was with the Bengals, he would only start in 17 games, eventually leading to his release in 2002."

He then failed in the CFL and:

Quote :

"Smith was the quarterbacks coach for Grossmont Junior College in San Diego. He will attend the university in the fall to get a master's degree in theology and divinity and become a pastor. He currently is a deacon at United Missionary Baptist Church. He plays football for God's House, a flag football team."

12/13/2010 1:57:16 PM

so this is a step by step walkthrough of how to research shitty athletes on wikipedia and google? got it

12/13/2010 1:59:35 PM

Quote :

"so this is a step by step walkthrough of how to research shitty athletes on wikipedia and google? got it"

There's no "how to" part about it...I'm doing it myself and others can join in if they'd like.

So the Tim Couch cover led to me thinking about Jared Lorenzen, which led me to this:

Quote :

"Due to Lorenzen's considerable girth, he has been given a collection of nicknames, which include:"Jumbo Giant", "Fat Jared", "Quarter(got)back", "QBese", "Hefty Lefty", "The Pillsbury Throwboy", "The Abominable Throwman", "J.Load", "Round Mound of Touchdown", "Tubby Gunslinger", "BBQ (Big Beautiful Quarterback)" "Battleship Lorenzen", "Butterball", "Lord Of The Ring-Dings", and "He Ate Me"."

12/13/2010 2:05:31 PM

Sebastian Telfair

12/13/2010 2:06:40 PM

^He's still in the league, yo...playing for Minnesota I think.

I remember seeing him play in high school against Raymond Felton in the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach YEARS back. It was sick. Telfair's team (Lincoln High School) was pretty stacked and Felton played for Latta High School, a 1A garbage team in backwoods South Carolina. They just went back and forth the whole game and the place was packed. I think Telfair bested him (he was a sophomore and Felton was a senior), but Felton was exhausted because he did everything for his team...even think he matched up on defense against Lincoln's post players because his team was so small.

Also saw Hodge play in that tournament. I was like, "This guy is good...but that jump shot is flat as fuck!"

12/13/2010 2:18:13 PM

sebastian telfair helped me win a fantasy bball championship one year.


and that Couch/Smith SI cover makes me laugh so hard.... I have a Tim Couch jersey in my closet that I bought for dirt cheap one year.

12/13/2010 2:25:25 PM

aimorris is a completely worthless ST poster. Someone should cleanup this place.

12/13/2010 2:28:52 PM

12/13/2010 2:32:30 PM

I've been wondering about Todd Fuller myself. A link on his Wikipedia page led me to this:

http://www.acgreen.com/abstinence/index.html

AC Green wants kids to stop having the sex.

12/13/2010 2:33:55 PM

jeez, todd fuller, what a bust. i have a fuller jersey somewhere back at my parents' house.

12/13/2010 2:42:50 PM

Darius Washington, Jr.

that free throw ruined him

12/13/2010 2:47:46 PM

I am sure everyone remembers the "Boom goes the dynamite" kid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W45DRy7M1no

Well, he is now an anchor in Dallas:
http://ksax.com/article/stories/S1774398.shtml?cat=10298

12/13/2010 2:49:32 PM

NBA Draft Busts List

Quote :

"18. Todd Fuller, Warriors No. 11, First Round –- 1996 An Academic All-American who couldn’t put two and two together on the court, Fuller was one in a series of disappointing Golden State picks. The last selection of the ill-fated Dave Twardzik Era, Fuller was taken ahead of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Jermaine O'Neal. Ouch. Fuller averaged around four points and three rebounds in five NBA seasons"

12/13/2010 2:59:14 PM

Validation completed.

Oh...and I completely forgot about Darius Washington. Check this out:

Quote :

"Washington was granted Macedonian citizenship, where he is known as Darius Vašington (?????? ????????? in Cyrillic), and he joined the Macedonian national basketball team.["

Macedonia is a complete fucking shit-hole. I'm sure he could have found a smaller, nicer country who's national team he could have joined.



[Edited on December 13, 2010 at 3:06 PM. Reason : I guess the greek/macedonian alphabet doesn't translate onto t-dub]

12/13/2010 3:05:43 PM

bryant reeves
khalid reeves
scoonie penn
shareef abdur-rahim
chester mcglockton

12/13/2010 3:05:58 PM

Quote :

"Jaybee1200 Slavs and Polacks 46609 Posts user info edit post aimorris is a completely worthless ST poster. Someone should cleanup this place. 12/13/2010 2:28:52 PM "

I agree

12/13/2010 3:10:34 PM

Quote :

"bryant reeves khalid reeves scoonie penn shareef abdur-rahim chester mcglockton"

I'll only reply to the ones I care about. Although Chester McGlocton is from my hometown, and like Shareef, Khaild and Bryant Reeves, he had an average career and then retired. Not really a "What the Fuck Happened to That Guy??" type of player.

Scoonie Penn and Redd were pretty nasty at Ohio State. I always forgot that Penn transferred from Boston College. Redd has had a pretty solid, if not sporadic NBA career. He's helped me on fantasy basketball a couple times by helping me win the 3pt category. I figured Scoonie has just been playing in Europe, which he has. The only "interesting" thing I could find about him was something tying him to Von Wafer of FSU:

Quote :

"On New Years Day, 2010, it was announced by Greek powerhouse Olympiacos that Penn would return to the club to replace Von Wafer, whom had been released due to his inability to adapt to the European game. In October 2010 he signed with Prima Veroli which plays in Italian second division LegADue.[1]"

Khali El-Amin was actually a lot more interesting to me than Khalid Reeves. That little rolly polly was a damn good point guard for the UConn team that beat Duke, along with Rip Hamilton, back in 1999. He didn't do much in the NBA before heading over to Europe as well.

12/13/2010 3:17:11 PM

Quote :

"In 1993 NC State picked up a 6'6 shooting guard, Jeremy Hyatt, out of Jacksonville, Florida. Known for his defense and his perimeter shooting Hyatt quickly became a fan favorite and was also a big part of the program from 1993-1997. Hyatt was a 3 years starter for the Wolfpack and was a member of Herb Sendek's first NC State team. Hyatt was solid during his senior season, by averaging 10 points per game, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and over a steal per game, all while shooting an outstanding 47% from the floor and 38% from 3 point range. Hyatt, alongside Justin Gainey, Damon Thornton and CC Harrison were able to bring NC State to their first postseason since Jimmy Valvano led State there during the '88-'89 season. The Wolfpack made a deep run in the ACC tournament and were selected for the NIT, where they were knocked out in the second round. After college basketball Jeremy Hyatt went on what essesntially was a world tour, playing in France, Lebenon, and Central America amongst other places. "It was a great experience for me, and I encourage anyone who can do it to do it. I got to see so many thing and get a broader view of this world." said Hyatt of the places basketball has taken him. When asked about the hardest adjustments of playing overseas, Jeremy was quick to talk about the language barrier. "It's funny, you know. They try to speak English and you try to speak their language but a lot gets lost in translation. But, at the end of the day we're all the same. Everyone is the same. They countdown and hit (imaginitive) buzzer beaters in their driveway just like we do, but instead of 3...2....1... it's trois...deux...un....." For nine seasons Jeremy played overseas, livingh is dream of playing professional basketball. Today, however, Jeremy is back in Raleigh, and still in a way, living his dream. Jeremy and fellow former Wolfpacker Mark L. Davis have started up a local basketball skills camp called "DRIVE Athletics." DRIVE was founded in 2009 and aims to provide the most exciting, educational, and fulfilling experience through its basketball training and events. Their primary goal is to ensure the youth involved in their programs have an enjoyable experience while learning the game of basketball and showcasing their achievements and talents. "We started DRIVE last year and it's been going really go so far. We're based out of Raleigh and we hold most of our clinics locally at Grand Slam USA off of Western, near NC State." said Hyatt. "We do clinics for guards and some for big men, shooting clinics as well as ball handling clinics." With Drive Athletics constantly growing and expanding it seems as if Jeremy Hyatt is still doing what he loves. If youre high school age or younger, or an adult with with a child and would like to get involved with DRIVE just click below to find out when, where and how to sign up for their next availble clinic."

http://packinsider.com/2010/04/where-are-they-now-jeremy-hyatt-drive-athletics/

12/13/2010 3:54:55 PM

¿Dónde está ahora?

12/13/2010 4:02:06 PM

Stanley Roberts was better than Shaq his freshman year at LSU...and this is Chris Jackson before he found Allah and developed turrets

12/13/2010 4:05:23 PM

I think you mean he was prone to uncontrollable bouts of profanity, not that he was involved in the manufacture of mounted machine guns

12/13/2010 4:10:10 PM

Quote :

"TURRETS"

12/13/2010 4:22:47 PM

Tourette Syndrome

pardon my misspelling

12/13/2010 4:50:14 PM

they didn't mention that Jeremy Hyatt sells cars at Leith Honda now.

12/13/2010 4:53:39 PM

jbrick, your assignments:

Kent Tekulve
Paul Assenmacher
Kordell Stewart
Lebron James

12/13/2010 5:23:40 PM

and Kelly Rhino

12/13/2010 5:25:12 PM

I think I got at least one Paul Assenmacher card in every pack of Donruss or Topps cards I bought from 1988 to 1991.

I want to know what happened to Billy Joe Hobert, Billy Joe Tolliver, and Billy Jean King (ok, I really don't care about the last one, but it fits).

12/13/2010 6:46:29 PM

Sam Keller
Ed O'Bannon

Ruining everybody's good time.

12/13/2010 9:09:37 PM

^^ i lived down the street from him and his brother in michigan(until i was 10)...i was best friend with his nephews

[Edited on December 13, 2010 at 9:19 PM. Reason : .]

12/13/2010 9:18:21 PM

I have a request that amac884, JTMONEYNCSU, and aimorris asked me to lodge for them:



Andriy Voronin

12/14/2010 8:57:54 AM

rymngarfunkl

12/14/2010 8:58:59 AM

Quote :

"Kelly Rhino"

Holy fuck...completely forgot about that guy. I feel like he destroyed us on some kick returns back in the day...but it was just too long ago to remember. I also feel like he never signaled for a fair catch and got his clock cleaned numerous times. Tough little fucker.

This is all I could find on him after his career at Georgia Tech:

Quote :

"Signed a free agent contract with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, the same team for which his father played. "

Oh wait...now I remember this faggot. Georgia Tech was the first game we lost after starting 9-0 and rising into the top 10. Mother fucker:

Quote :

"His 26-yard return to the NC State 22-yard line set up the winning touchdown in Tech's 24-17 victory over the 8th-ranked Wolfpack"

I definitely remember the O'Bannon Brothers as well. I think "Ed-O" was the better collegiate player, but Charles ended up being the better NBA player. I think there was also a younger brother that played for a Big-10 team I believe...scratch that, I think that was the Rush brothers. I mix those up sometimes.

Ed O'Bannon:

Quote :

"He is the older brother of former Detroit Pistons guard Charles O'Bannon (with whom he shares the same first and middle names, in reverse order) ........ In his two professional seasons, however, he was unable to find a place in the NBA, being too hobbled by knee problems to play forward and too slow to be a guard. ...... After his NBA career, O'Bannon played professional basketball in Italy, Spain, Greece, Argentina and Poland (in Anwil Wloclawek, Polonia Warszawa and Astoria Bydgoszcz). He decided to retire at age 30 after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. When he made his decision, he was in the process of trying out for a new league in China but realized he had no more motivation to play the game. Furthermore, the people holding the tryouts had never even heard of him. ....... Not wallowing in his past, in 2006, when he was a salesman at the dealership, O'Bannon told the Los Angeles Times, "People see me and remember me and I'm proud to tell them — 'No, I don't play. No, I don't coach. Yes, I sell cars.'""

Charles O'Bannon:

Quote :

"Charles O'Bannon was selected by the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the third pick in the second round of the 1997 NBA Draft. He played for the Pistons for two seasons before being released. He scored his NBA career high of 14 points on April 14, 1999 against the Charlotte Hornets. O'Bannon has continued his professional basketball career by playing in various leagues outside of the United States. As of 2009, he was playing for the Toyota Alvark of the Japanese Basketball League, and was leading that league in scoring."

12/14/2010 9:15:31 AM

Quote :

"I think you mean he was prone to uncontrollable bouts of profanity, not that he was involved in the manufacture of mounted machine guns"

not to derail but that shit made me fucking die when i read it :x

12/14/2010 12:01:41 PM

Quote :

"rymngarfunkl"

lol. Whatever happened to Big Ben McDonald and the 22 baseballs he could hold in one hand?

12/14/2010 12:48:24 PM

After seeing that we last beat Duke at Cameron Indoor during the "Pete Gaudet Year"...I decided to see what happened to old Petey after Coach K fucked him over that year.

Holy fucking shit did his career take a nose-dive. Coach K should be giving this guy a portion of his salary every year for taking that bullet for him back in '95:

Quote :

"After leaving the Army program in 1982, Gaudet rejoined Krzyzewski as an assistant coach at Duke from 1983-1995. When Krzyzewski took a leave of absence in early 1995 because of back problems, Gaudet was promoted to interim head coach. After a 9-3 start under "Coach K", the team struggled to an eventual record of 13-18 overall and 2-14 in the ACC. Duke credits the games coached by Gaudet to him, rather than to Krzyzewski. Gaudet did not return to the Blue Devils' bench for the 1995-1996 season, departing for Vanderbilt. After working in the men's program there for several years, he became an assistant with the Vanderbilt women's basketball team; he later served as an assistant with the Ohio State women, where he is currently the video coordinator."

1/20/2011 12:40:14 PM

^ lol. If my career follows his I'll go from engineer to intern to janitor to assistant crack whore.

1/20/2011 12:55:28 PM

ouch, he just keeps getting demoted.

1/20/2011 1:07:19 PM

That bolded part just made me lol in class. Thankfully it hasn't started yet.

1/20/2011 1:12:00 PM