College Football Recruiting: 5 Can't-Miss Recruits Who Indeed Missed

It's always a disappointment to see a recruit flame out, especially when they come in with such high regard, are touted so much and have the infamous "can't-miss" label attached to their names.

Busts are always disappointing and leave us scratching our heads. Whether it be a bad fit, an injury, personal problems or just a missed evaluation, busts have happened and will continue to happen.

For this read, I'm going to give you five guys who were big-time recruits with the hype, the billing and were bantered as can't-miss, surefire prospects. Unfortunately, things didn't work out as planned in their careers. 

Kyle Wright, QB (Miami)

Wright was a 6'3", 220-pound QB from Northern California who just looked like a QB destined for greatness.

But it never happened—ever.

Miami thought Wright to be Ken Dorsey with arm strength, but while Wright had a stronger arm than Dorsey, he never came close to his predecessor's production in Coral Gables. 

Wright was even booed routinely at times during home games and never came close to playing like evaluators thought he would. Whether it was poor coaching at Miami or off-the-field problems, Wright never got going in the 305.

He was a huge bust. Period. 

Whitney Lewis, WR (USC)

Let's go back to the 2003 recruiting cycle. Whitney Lewis was a 6'1", 215-pounder who could play WR and RB. He was the first California player to ever rush and receive for a 1,000 yards in one season.

Florida State, where friend Lorenzo Booker signed the previous year, looked like the school to beat in the race, but with Lewis being from SoCal, USC desperately wanted him. 

On NSD, Lewis wanted to sign with the Noles, but his parents refused to give their blessing and wanted him to stay home at USC. Lewis grudgingly and reluctantly obliged, but he never was happy at USC.

Pete Carroll and Norm Chow wanted to use him as a jack-of-all-trades player on offense to factor as a receiver and running back, but Lewis only wanted to play receiver and pouted. He ended up transferring to Northern Iowa after two years and didn't make much noise there, either.

Ben Olson, QB (UCLA)

Olson was a 6'5", 225-pound lefty with a cannon for an arm who could move well in the pocket. He lit up the camp and combine circuit in 2000-2001.

Being of Mormon faith, Olson chose to head to BYU, where he took his mission. He eventually left Provo to come back to Westwood and play for UCLA, where the Bruins viewed him as the savior they're still looking for to this day. 

Yet during Olson's tenure as Bruins QB, if he wasn't battling injuries, he was battling rust and poor play. Olson never made any real impact for UCLA and goes down as one of the biggest busts in recent memory. 

Ryan Perrilloux, QB (LSU)

At 6'2" and 220 pounds, Perrilloux was often compared to Donovan McNabb. He could throw, he could run and he claimed he'd win the Heisman not once, but numerous times.

Perrilloux's arrogance proved to be his downfall. He showed reckless off-the-field habits, broke team rules and was even involved in a scuffle a night club.

He was finally dismissed from the team by Les Miles in 2008 and transferred to Jacksonville State, where he was suspended again for breaking team rules.

This also happened to him at JSU.

Fred Rouse, WR (Florida State)

Blessed with a 6'5" frame and 4.4 speed, there was nothing that Rouse couldn't do on the field. He was rumored to have felt that he was ready for the NFL out of high school, and many felt he would be better than Randy Moss.

However, Rouse had an ego and arrived on Florida State's campus with a sense of entitlement and infuriated Bobby Bowden with his lack of focus.

Rouse only lasted one season in Tallahassee—just one.  

He initially transferred to UTEP, but trouble followed him to El Paso, and he wound up at Concordia College, an extremely small school with an enrollment of less than 500.

Rouse has to be, if not the biggest, then the Mount Rushmore of recruiting busts.