re: Underclassmen decisions

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No it's far deeper than that. These kids have seen the debacle that has ensued sine January 2012 and have had enough. They probably feel its not worth risking their NFL careers for the awful embarrassing offensive team we've become when it's clear to them we will not be truly competing again until coaching changes are made. I would feel the same way in their shoes and want to move on.

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So which players do you think should stay?

Early in the season (before we knew definitively that this season would not result in a national championship and would result in a gawdawful 10 win season), we knew with near certainty that Mingo, Montgomery, and Reid were virtual locks to go. We knew this about Mathieu too since he was gone before the first game. We knew with some degree of certainty that Faulk, Logan, and Simon would be strong candidates to leave early depending on whether or not they met expectations. Since Logan and Simon met expectations, we should not be surprised to see them go. With Faulk, we did not know he would miss an entire season's worth of an opportunity to prove himself. If he played to expectations, he may have been gone anyway.

Most of us did not expect to see Minter go because we did not know he would be this consistently good. But based on what we knew about the other players leaving early, how much of a stretch was it that Minter would go if he turned out to be #1 at his position and his primary rival for draft slotting at Bama would decide to stay?

So far, don't all these departures sound reasonable? If not, make your case why these are unreasonable.

Did most of us know that Wing would be eligible? I didn't. Most of us that did not even wonder about his eligibility and presumed we would have him only through his junior year recognized his talent and speculated that we would have that rare punter who left after his junior year. We said that because we believed he would only be eligible then. Knowing what we know now, it makes perfect sense for him to leave. The team does not need another player with weed problems. We will not miss him and should not be surprised to see him go.

But Ware and Ford were known possibilities as well. They merely needed to stay healthy and show their talent. They did. We did not know (though there was significant positive speculation), that Hill would become the featured back. Once we learned that, coupled with the knowledge that Blue would be returning, most of us were saying that Ware would go and that Ford SHOULD go even before losses to Bama and Clemson.

So in my opinion Faulk is the only surprise based on what we know. It is rare for an OL injured that early in the season to go pro without taking another shot at proving their health to improve draft stock. Can any of you honestly say that any of these players other than Faulk should be staying for another year, even if we had a different coach?