FSU linebacker Maurice "Smiley" Harris arrested on stolen auto charges. Will FSU release the worthless linebacker?
by Bud Elliott on Jun 22, 2009 11:57 PM EDT
in News
64 comments
On a day that saw Florida State address its future by securing commitments from three promising recruits, the 'Noles must deal with their past as yet another member of Jeff Bowden's disastrous final recruiting class has thrust Florida State into the news for the wrong reasons.
Florida State redshirt sophomore linebacker Maurice "Smiley" Harris was arrested Monday night for 2 felonies relating to driving a stolen vehicle and a traffic violation. No matter the nature of the charge nor his guilt or innocence, he has brought bad press to the University.
"Smiley" is another example of the failed 2007 recruiting class, a class cobbled together by Lazy recruiter and soon (in late 2006 early 2007) to be fired offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden. Of the 20 member class, only 12 remain. Cameron Wade and Maurice Harris are very likely to be booted from the team within the coming year because they lack talent, are lazy, and are undisciplined. Frequent readers will remember that we called for Cam Wade's dismissal because he is not a team player, doesn't have D1 talent, and is a general drag on the program undeserving of a scholarship that could be given to someone with you know, "actual talent." FSU should not have to honor scholarships for the recruiting failures of Jeff Bowden. They have not bought into the new demands of Jimbo Fisher and the new staff. Of the 12 remaining players (current juniors or redshirt sophomores), only 4 are starters. OG Rodney Hudson (recruited late in the process by FSU offensive line coach RIck Trickett- not a Jeff Bowden recruit), WR's Tiawan Easterling (recruited in the final week before signing day by Jimbo Fisher- not a Jeff Bowden recruit), Bert Reed, and LB Kendall Smith.
Let's be clear: Smiley is a bad player. He is tiny and cannot play linebacker on the division one level. He didn't get the job done in the weight room to gain the necessary size and was really a questionable recruit by the 'Noles in the first place. He was a backup with no chance of seeing meaningful playing time.
Jeff Bowden's terrible work ethic continues to haunt FSU to this day. His dad can't control the misfits he brought to the program, while by comparison, Fisher's kids have been considerably better behaved.
There's another problem with Harris, however, and that is that besides being a woefully undersized immature non-contributor, he is LB Coach Chuck Amato's only South Florida recruit in his second stint with the 'Noles. Sure, he was a member of the final Jeff Bowden class, but Amato is the "recruiter of record." Amato is supposedly a great South Florida recruiter, but he has only one south Florida commitment in his three years back (Harris). Cutting Harris would be an embarrassment for Amato, who has already drawn criticism for his poor linebacker coaching, allowing his backers to be consistently undisciplined. Chuck is in charge of discipline on the team, but will he act for the greater good or will he go for the ego play? Can he risk everyone realizing that his only South Florida recruit in three years, questionably talented at the time, has already failed? Without his South Florida recruiting prowess or linebackers who are producing for him, Amato would be reduced to little more than a glorified maid, requiring that player's lockers be straight at all times.
Smiley is garbage and should be off the team. Players who are marginal at best cannot embarrass the team and must be made an example of. Double standards exist for a reason. FSU's boosters should not tolerate this trash. Hopefully we can all celebrate when his scholarship is rightfully given to a deserving player with talent and work ethic.
0 recs |
64 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
How can you honestly screw up this bad
When you are a linebacker at a Div 1 school?
If I could go back to high school and play football, get recruited and have the honor of playing for Florida State, I’d protect that privilege zealously. I would definitely not go about stealing cars. What a moron.
That's him on the far right side of the photo from Thursday
He definitely got arrested while wearing his school-issued workout shirt. Nice job.
Just surprised he wasn’t smiling ala Tom DeLay in his mugshot.
by The K-Man on Jun 23, 2009 12:10 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
MH is to the far right
Pressley is to the FAR left. I’m referring to the shirtless guy, in the middle of the group of 3.
I think it was Nigel Carr.
The players tended to socialize based on their positions.
Avis had his hair rubber-banded back in more organized fashion than the person above.
OH, THE IRONY!
On this 100-degree day, I decided to ride my scooter (it’s not a purse, it’s EUROPEAN!) around town that day. As I was ‘scooting’ up Varsity Drive, I noticed activity on the band field and decided to stop and watch/film.
I parked the scooter “illegally” right next to the field. In Tallahassee, you can pretty much park a scooter anywhere without repercussions, unless it’s actually on top of somebody’s foot or in a fire station driveway. For Smiley’s scooter to receive a boot for parking violations (if that’s the case) would be hilarious.
I went back and watched the Warchant highlights of the 40-times and you can see my illegally parked scooter. Gotta love the irony, here folks.
Not that anyone would be surprised
but this will be for sure ticker tape all over ESPN. Why over a backup? HellifIkno.
Just wants to beat the Gators
Woot woot!
Freed-up scholly!
We’ll get over the passing negative spotlight. I’m just happy that there’s a new one to give a deserving kid out there.
by pillsburysoldier on Jun 23, 2009 12:18 AM EDT reply actions
With scollies from everywhere...
jeez. This guy’s track times are pretty good too.
by pillsburysoldier on Jun 23, 2009 12:28 AM EDT up reply actions
Q: What do Shawn Powell, Taiwan Easterling, Rodney Hudson, AJ Ganguzza and Kendall Smith have in common?
Out of the 2007 recruiting class, these are the only 5 players that fit certain parameters. Here’s how we go from 20 to 4.
20 Recruits:
-Now take away the players no longer members of the team.
-And then there were 12
Of those 12, take away 3 who’ve been arrested in the past year.
Of the 9 remaining, take away who’ve lost entire seasons due to injury.
Now we’re left with the 5 names from above. That’s right, 5. Five players from the 2007 class that are:
A) still on the team
B) not dealing with criminal charges and
C) been healthy enough to contribute both years
(one of the 5 is recovering from a ruptured Achilles and was the centerpiece of the Union brawl)
Who would’ve thought we’d get that poor of a return on our 2007 class? This is why we’re still not quite there yet and won’t be for at least a year or two.
I wish I could’ve saved threads from February 2007 where people wrote “Welcome Aboard!”, “I’m pumped!”, “Can’t wait for September!”, and “The future is bright!”.
The future is bright. The past was not.
Shows the failure of that class
which was the last recruited with Jeff et al around. Fisher and crew came in late, but mostly inherited the commits FSU had (or close to had). And of the five you list – Easterling and Hudson were late adds to the recruiting that Fisher and Trickett identified and added and managed to land.
by Wild@Heart Nole on Jun 23, 2009 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions
your right we won't turn the corner until next season
when last years class starts to contribute along with the 08 class. In the 2011 season we will look like a top 10 team again.
Yeah, right!
by truecolors on Jun 23, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Errors in post.
Should say “how we go from 20 to 5”.
Also, 4 players have been lost for entire seasons (how I went from 9 down to 5(
Easterling:
Wasn’t he a late signee? Really late? If I recall correctly he deliberated a long time between FSU and one of the Mississippi schools before committing – well past signing day – meaning post-JB. He is definitely one of Jimbo’s kids.
A lot of people were excited when Easterling committed
He was definately a gem to find so late in the process. FSU got a good steal in Taiwan, thanks to Fisher.
by NoleThruandThru on Jun 23, 2009 1:50 AM EDT up reply actions
I say we give Louis Givens the ship he's EARNED
now that one SHOULD be freed up from this arrest. Being that it is a felony, he’s at least suspended indefinitely, and hopefully as FSUncensored advocated, booted altogether.
I apologize for being wrong on this one.
I reported that back in spring. If you knew who my source was, you’d be surprised too that it didn’t turn out true. Maybe he meant that Boosie cousin (Louis Givens) would get it eventually? Or maybe he meant that the coaching staff promised but couldn’t give it at the moment?
Just wants to beat the Gators
Blame it on the weather
He wasn’t drinking enough water, and in the confusion of dehydration he thought he was a Gator so he had to commit a felony to keep up with the rest of the squad.
WTF???
What a freaking moron…I cannot, wth this just pisses me off to no end . Really, I mean come on. With idiots like him we will never get out of this negative image. He better get the boot. Wow….all I can say.
Go Noles!!!
WTF
You have got to be F***ing kidding me? We just had probably the best run of PR we have had in the past year getting three solid verbals and now this.
"No, like I said, Woo peed on my rug" - The Dude
supposedly it was his.
but the tags, etc are off. It is a total cluster—— regarding the situation. If I hear anything more I willlet everyone know. Regardless he should be gone.
Excellent article gentlemen.
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." - General George S. Patton
Thanks, CC
I know you don’t agree with the double standard part, but I think everyone will agree that a linebacker who in his 3rd year at FSU can barely get above 200lbs (and thus has no shot to play) cannot be driving around in a vehicle with serial numbers etched out.
He counts towards the scholarship total even though he is suspended indefinitely, correct?
>-----:----:------>Spear 'em then Scalp 'em
Why is Todd Stroud borrowing motorcycles from
players?
Apparently the vehicle in question, a motorcycle, was parked illegally, booted, then disappeared and reappeared without the boot. Upon investigating the motorcycle, they contacted Stroud who had “borrowed” the motorcycle from Harris yesterday. Harris wouldn’t say anything about the VIN being tampered and the mismatch on the paper tag and the motorcycle.
Easy to toss Harris out for being dumb, but what’s the rest of the story about Stroud???
Laziness or incompetence in recruiting?
FSUn — on what basis do you claim that Jeff Bowden’s recruiting failures were due to a “terrible work ethic” rather than plain ol’ incompetence, or something else? Attacking someone’s moral character seems more serious than attacking their competence. Why do you think he was lazy?
Just heard things that they didn't put in the effort in making their evaluations.
Upon the changing of the guard, people remarked that the coaches would have to start putting in a lot more leg work in scouting the kids. It’s pretty remarkable how they grabbed the worst of the 5* talents.
There was an article discussing how Miami did this yesterday, http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/hurricanes/sfl-hurricanes-recruiting-s06220sbjun22,0,4582911.story and we were doing a lot of the same stuff they were from what I heard.
I suppose that's not a crazy conclusion.
Still, the decision to rely on rankings and so forth may have been due to an honest belief that it was the best way to go, which turned out to be wrong, rather than due to laziness. All things being equal, it seems better to believe that JB just wasn’t capable rather than that he was lazy. Generally, I don’t think we’re in a good position to make judgments of character based on performance metrics.
by missourinole on Jun 23, 2009 4:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Efficiency
Are you lazy if you work less hard than someone else? Not if your method is better and more efficient.
But each team gets a maximum amount of hours they can recruit (or a max # of visits, etc). To me, not using all of those seems silly and sort of lazy.
Maybe it’s more accurate to label him a lazy recruiter than a lazy person. Though I do think his work ethic permeated the program, as does Bowden’s newly shortened hours.
I agree that recruiting is better now that Jimbo is overseeing it.....
however, Jeff probably had nothing or little to do with the defensive recruits at the time since he was not in the same “head coach in waiting” position. Mickey, Chuck, etc… would have the final call on these, right?
I think the fair thing to do would be to place this squarely on the shoulders of Bobby. It is his time, but he really takes very little blame publicy for the downward spiral of the program.
Jeff Bowden has provided us with more than enough evidence to make judgements on his character.
That he wasn’t man enough to walk away from Florida State when he found himself way in over his head just makes him a loser. That he took $500,000 to be run from the program makes him a crook. Laziness is just one of many character flaws that could be discussed here.
However, I agree with jasonole59 below that Bobby can fairly shoulder the entirety of the blame. He shoulders the entirety of these character flaws as well.
I'm not defending JB by any means but...
What idiot wouldn’t take $500k if offered to you when you already knew your days were numbered! Not to mention, that was what the boosters gave him on their own accord.
An idiot with... (wait for it...)
…character. And come on now, the part about the boosters giving on their own accord? Play fair.
I am shocked, appalled, mortified, and disgusted with some of the comments and opinions being posted here. I thought we had a constitution, the bill of rights, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and the right to a trial by a jury of your pe
Ah,screw it, who am I trying to kid, CAN THE THUG.
>-----:----:------>Spear 'em then Scalp 'em
I look at the mug shot, and I hear the start of the story...
“See, what had happened was…”
I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I only lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three.
Elayne Boosler
Sounds like it may be a case of
snitches git stitches…
I wonder if this was a musical chair type vehicle. Vehicles get passed around on the streets all of the time. If your car gets stolen, you’d be surprised at how many times it changes hands before its found. Mr. Harris just happened to be the last idiot riding it.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Tomahawk Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
