Afurmanfan wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:21 am
Don’t rule out the possibility that the coaches might have concluded he was not a good fit for Furman. Talent is not the only element that makes you a good teammate.
Heard from a highly credible, though not in any way associated with Furman, source that the young man was asked by the new Coaching Staff, as were many of FU's then-O-Lineman, to lose weight. Though I don't have 100% recall of the number the source quoted, I believe it was in the neighborhood of 20-30 lbs. The young man and his family felt that dropping weight was not in his future best interests (assuming due to NFL aspirations), so he decided to transfer.
Didn't watch him that much at FU in 2016, but I did see him play in the GA State Championship Game his Sr. Year. My observation then - "Could be a pretty good player; needs to lose 20-30 pounds." I'll reserve quoting exactly what one current FBS Coach, with whom I was sitting that day, observed. Let's just say that he agreed with my (and the current FU Coaching Staff's) assessment.
We'll see how that transfer works out for him. As always, with all of these young men, I do hope all of his dreams are realized. Richmond is a very good school with a solid Football Program & Coach Huesman is a good Coach. He should be fine and FU's O-Line was & will be just fine as well.
EDIT to add a weight-related 'war story' that I think is pretty funny. Maybe you will as well...
One Sunday, after a so-so (or worse) game at OT fairly early in the season during my Sr. Year, Coach Sheridan told me and Coach Caldwell that he was to weigh me in on Friday before the game the following week and that if I wasn't at my listed weight or less, I wasn't going to play until I was. I weighed 265 at the time, but was listed in the program at 232 and Coach Sheridan had no idea how much I actually weighed, but he knew it was more than 232. I didn't see a mid-season 5th year transfer as an option and I certainly didn't plan to lose 33 pounds in a week. So, I stayed after practice all week and semi-pretended to be getting in some 'extra conditioning' work in order to 'reach' Coach Sheridan's mandated weight. On Friday, as I had planned the previous Sunday night, I stepped up on the scale under the (intentionally not) watchful eye of Coach Caldwell and put my right hand on the oh-so-well-placed laundry chute right beside the big-dial stand-up scale...the pointer swung up...well past 232, but with a little downward pressure from that right hand, settled right down on 230 or so. Coach Caldwell happily reported to Coach Sheridan that I would be playing on Saturday. After I played fairly well that week, Coach Sheridan asked me after Film Review, "54, didn't you feel so much better playing without all that extra weight slowing you down?" "YES SIR!," I smiled back at him as I went upstairs to check my weight...267.
I think they are a little more precise with weight issues these days.