Here's the only place Josh Booty nearly made it into the top 10 that he earned. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/phenomflops.html For you Horn fans I notice you still raid Evangel High School year after year. You'll learn your lesson as we have. Once they get to college they suck.....products of the system.
Just mentioned this Just mentioned this on another LSU site and got ripped. Oh well. I thought the article was interesting because it showed how wrong the media can be when they are pumping up these poor kids. The fans can be responsible as well. Case in point, Booty. I feel bad for him because he could have never met the expectations set on him when he finally came (Savior?). There were too many people that wanted him in the game that it wound up tying DiN's hands (well, that and he was to damned stubborn) I wish him the best of luck, but I don't think he ever (or will ever) reach the potential he had coming out of HS. As for Ben, good guy, but his arm got thrown out before he had a real chance. Still made a good run of it.
A lot of it is not his fault. The media and public set the guy up for failure. He has had his moments though (Ala run, UAB pass). A sidebar issue: Evangel players going to college. Every major college is beating down there door every year. They always have the top recruits not only in the state but in the nation. And not a single one of them has ever turned out to be anything. You'd think it would die down but it never seems to. It will really get riled up again next year......the youngest Booty comes out.
I said it in an earlier post.... Evangel recruits are like Florida QB's. Everyone salivates over them, but when they get to the next level, they can't get it done. Like you said, products of the system, nothing more. I'm glad they closed the door on LSU. The current coaches know better, but it prevents any future ones from wasting their time.
I am not a proponent of Evangel "Christian" Academy in the slightest, but I hear that Jonathan Wade (WR at Tennessee) is making some early progress and expected to be a prominent receiver in the coming years in Knoxvile. On the other hand, he is the only highly touted Evangel recruit that I can think of in years to actually live up to his billing. I could not care less if we never get another Evangel kid.
Re: I said it in an earlier post.... Since I have family who have gone to Evangel and have been a part of that school for a while, let me play "devil's" advocate here. So Evangel doesn't produce any good athletes huh? I guess ya'll don't realize that one of our starting defensive tackles Byron Dawson was an Evangel alum. And I for one think Josh Booty was a pretty decent quarterback that, had it not been for a series of bad decisions and bad timing, could have been awesome. It was a mistake for him to go to pro baseball, I think he realizes that now. When he finally realized he wasn't gonna be a major leaguer, he came back to LSU, but by then it was too late. His whole two years he had to fight Rohan Davey for playing time, and it was no small advantage that Rohan had the team and virtually the entire student body in his corner. I don't know what it was, but when the quarterback controversy came to LSU, the students almost immediately sided with Rohan and stayed on his side. Now I'm not knocking Rohan, he was great his senior year. It's just my opinion that, seeing them play, Booty was just as talented and athletic and could have been THE MAN for LSU had he enjoyed at least some support from the LSU community. But, unfortunately, the price for support was always too high, and he could never deliver except for that stretch in 2000 when he won four straight games as a starter. Evangel players have produced at the college level. Josh's brother Abram was a solid receiver here before injuries ended his career. Cole Pittman was a rising star at Texas before his life was tragically cut short in a car accident. Don't forget, Brock Berlin will be the starter at Miami next year and John David Booty is supposed to be twice what his brother was (remember Wade at Tennessee has yet to get his shot). So let's wait and see what they do before declaring Evangel a dry well. I think most LSU fans are upset that in the last few years, the ECA blue-chippers have been signing elsewhere (I remember a similar attitude toward Catholic-BR when Warrick Dunn and Travis Minor went off to Florida St.) Once again, this goes back to the Josh Booty situation, not the open rift that resulted between DiNardo and ECA coach Dennis Dunn when Dunn said he wouldn't advise his players to go to LSU because the program was down and national contenders were beating on their doors. Now that LSU is climbing the ladder, problem solved right? Nope. ECA fans and coaches are very protective of their own. They will NEVER forget how shabbily Josh Booty was treated by the fans and how he was booed by people who claim to be Tiger fans but clearly despised a certain Tiger. Have we burned our bridge with Evangel? It's hard to say. We haven't particularly been recruiting any of their players lately and so far Coach Saban has not attempted to "mend fences" up there even though some people said he was making that a priority. Obviously, Matt Flynn and Robert Lane on our commitment list means we are not going after John David Booty next year, but he will sign with a national power. I've seen him play, he's THAT GOOD! I would hope we haven't burned our bridges up there, because we may need one of their good ones a few years from now.
Josh and Abram Booty were fine athletes, damn fine athletes. Hell, Josh Booty gave back close to a million dollars to return to LSU. And he became an all SEC quarterback. The problem I have with them is that they each QUIT THE TEAM when their starting job was challenged. Josh had already stated that he was foregoing the NFL to stay for his senior season at LSU. Then, he has a poor game, Rohan steps in and shows that he has the stuff. Then Bam! Josh leaves for the NFL rather than compete with Rohan for the starting job. Injuries didn't end Abram Booty's career. He transferred to Valdosta State. His injury did cost him his LSU starting job for a while, like it does to all players. But when it wasn't handed back to him upon his return, he quit the team in mid-season and later transferred. LSU didn't burn their bridges with Evangel either, the Evangel coach did that when he publicly chastised Gerry Dinardo, damaging our recruiting that year. Gerry just didn't kiss his ass the way he thought it should be kissed. Nick Saban hasn't kissed his ass either. Since then, Evangel coaches have openly steered their players away from LSU. The major story they put out is that LSU "abandons" players who get injured like they did to poor Abram. I repeat Abram Booty QUIT the team and transferred. LSU didn't quit on him. LSU got by for decades before Evangel existed and will continue to do so. If the newest, greatest Booty has the same character flaws as his brothers, then I say LSU doesn't need him.
Ben McDonald too? I saw Ben McDonald on there too. Weren't most of his MLB struggles due to injury (shoulder)? Josh leaving made me respect him a little more. I think he wanted to come back but realized the team was ready to have Ro as the unquestioned leader. It all worked out so well last year. I think Josh had as much or more talent than Rohan but brain cramps (at Georgia, at Bama, UAB) like the ones he suffered can't be tolerated from a QB. You just don't make up plays in the huddle like he did. Still, it must have been hard to be in his position as an "older" player and he had to deal with possibly too much criticism. I thought that was a good post by Jetstorm. I've bashed Evangel in the past because of quotes I've read in the papers from the Booty father and others. It seems like everyone tries to downplay the "football factory" and say the school is really about "God" and such. John Booty? (the dad) actually had the nerve to say that children who attend public school don't know anything about religion and are taught by faculty with no morals. Not an exact quote but was taken from the Houston Chronicle in June of 2001. I'm not sure if some of the quotes in that story were taken out of context but it painted a very poor picture of Evangel and their way of life. Everything I've heard since then seemed to back it up so I'm inclined to buy most of it (feel free to refute). From the list of players mentioned by Jetstorm, it still seems like there should be more success in college for these guys. Wasn't Evangel created in about 1990 or so? There should be more guys to talk about. I'm sure they have talent. Does the administration give them inflated egos? The school reminds me of scientologists or something except they worship football. I'd rather not have any more players from Evangel unless they are well grounded individuals. If anyone has any thoughts to change my opinion, feel free to express them. I'm just going by stuff I've heard in the last 2-3 years. Whatever happened to the coach charged with rape?
Dawson It sure did take Byron Dawson awhile to come around. I remember hearing how he was going to start as a true freshman like Booger and it took 3 years for him to develop. Seems like a good, hard-nosed player though.
