Aaron Lynch and Other Memorable Transfers in College Football Recruiting

With Aaron Lynch appearing close to landing at South Florida, Notre Dame has been hit hard with the Freshman All-American's impending transfer.

Transferring is always a bit sad for me to see, as these prospects sign with these schools with so much excitement and promise, only to see various things happen and their careers not blossom the way it seemed destined to be on signing day.

For this read, I want to just go back and touch on some of the most memorable transfers of highly-touted prospects that have polarized college football recruiting. 

10. Darrell Scott

Remember a few years back in 2008 when Scott was the top RB prospect in the country? He was a 6'0", 205-pounder that could just do it all.

Texas was close to landing Scott, only to see him sign with Colorado. However, things never got on track in Boulder, and Scott never seemed to make an impact with the Buffs.

He transferred to USF, and this past season, ran for over 800 yards. Scott has now entered the NFL draft.

9. Mitch Mustain

Some had Mustain ranked ahead of Matt Stafford back in 2006 as the top QB in the country. If you ask me, I think Mustain really wanted to go to Notre Dame, but I think Charlie Weis didn't want to scare off Jimmy Clausen.

Mustain went through a love-and-hate recruitment with Arkansas, as he never got on the same page with Houston Nutt. 

Even after going 8-0 as a starter, Mustain left for USC and basically was never heard from again. 

8. Lache Seastrunk

This is a memorable transfer because it kind of opened up a can of worms for Oregon. From Texas, Seastrunk was a 5-star RB prospect that signed with Oregon.

He redshirted in 2010, and then after the season, left for Baylor. In any other transfer, that would have been it.

But Seastrunk's transfer led to the uncovering of bad recruiting allegations against Oregon and an NCAA investigation. 

7. Brock Berlin

Berlin was from Evangel Christian Academy in the late 90's and was the nation's best QB prospect. He shredded up defenses in Louisiana and just had the hype of the next top QB prospect in football.

Berlin signed with Florida and just never could beat out Rex Grossman, ever. He shined some in the 2002 Orange Bowl, but ended up transferring to Miami and enjoyed minimal success there

6. Garrett Gilbert

Gilbert was a 5-star QB prospect in 2009 and signed with Texas. Things never got going or in Austin.

He threw 17 interceptions in 2010 and then lost his starting job to Case McCoy and David Ash this past season. What also didn't help was a bad shoulder injury too.

Today, Gilbert is taking classes at Texas to finish up his degree and is on track to enroll at SMU in the summer and compete for the starting job for June Jones. 

5. Justin Fargas

Justin Fargas was a top-notch recuit in the late 90's and signed with Michigan in 1998. You thought the talented RB was going to win a Heisman and become a first-round pick in Ann Arbor.

But for some reason, as a sophomore, the Wolverines moved him to safety. Right after that, Fargas broke his leg and elected to transfer.

He came back to Los Angeles, wound up at USC and helped jump start the Trojans rushing attack in 2002.

4. The Brown Brothers

Arthur was a 5-star prospect in 2008 and Bryce followed him up in 2009. Arthur signed with Miami and Bryce committed to The U as a junior, then de-committed before signing with Tennessee.

Arthur never did anything at Miami and struggled to learn the defensive playbook, while Bryce was inconsistent in Knoxville as a freshman.

Both wound up at Kansas State, where Arthur has gotten on track and will lead the Wildcats defense in 2012, while Bryce left Kansas State last fall.

3. J.P. Losman

Losman was an extremely highly-touted QB prospect that signed with UCLA in 1999. He had a cannon for an arm and hailed from Venice, Calif.

Losman wanted to be the man at UCLA very, very badly and enrolled early with the aim to win the starting job as a true freshman in spring practice.

When the spring ended, Bob Toledo told him he wasn't the starter, Losman pouted and left for Tulane, where he enjoyed good success and became a first-round pick in 2004 to the Bills. 

2. Aaron Corp

Corp signed with USC in 2007, as the 6'3", 200-pounder was a solid prospect from Orange Lutheran. When Mark Sanchez surprisingly left for the NFL after just one year as a starter, Corp was looking to be the next USC QB.

But some true freshman named Matt Barkley had other plans and beat Corp out for the job in 2009. Corp didn't want to be Matt Cassel, so he transferred to Richmond.

1. Aaron Lynch

Lynch's recruitment in 2012 was wild, as he flip-flopped between Notre Dame and Florida State pretty frequently before settling on the Irish.

In fact, Lynch even enrolled early in South Bend to get a jump start on things.

He had a great true freshman season, earning Freshman All-American honors with 33 tackles and 5.5 sacks. Yet Lynch seems to want to return to his native state of Florida and perhaps be closer to his girlfriend.

South Florida, presumably, is getting one heck of a football player.