Tag: Michael Dyer

Missing the cut: NCAA Football 16

Here’s a look at Auburn players who missed out on being a cover athlete for the popular EA Sports video game franchise for the 2016 edition.

Many sports video game fans across the country (including myself) were excited to learn that the NCAA Football franchise is on track to return to our lives in the summer of 2024, which will be re-named “EA Sports College Football.”

Plans for the game were threatened to be delayed due to a lawsuit from The Brandr Group, citing that the franchise’s $500 million pool, which would give each athlete represented in the game $500, was considered to be “far below market value.”

Despite the setback, EA Sports remains on schedule to release the game next summer.

“We’re incredibly excited to bring back an authentic college football experience for fans and athletes that have shown such passion for the franchise, and we’re looking forward to delivering it in Summer 2024,” an EA spokesperson tells On3’s Pete Nakos.

It has been ten years since the release of the last game, NCAA Football 14. It has us at Auburn Wire thinking… which Auburn athletes missed out on being a cover athlete for the famous video game franchise?

In the first edition of the series titled “Missing the Cut”, we took a look back at which Auburn players had the best chance of being the cover athlete for NCAA 15, ultimately settling on [autotag]Chris Davis[/autotag] and now it is time to break down who could have been on the cover of NCAA Football 16.

After making a run to the BCS National Championship Game in 2013, Auburn’s 2014 season did not go nearly as well, the Tigers finished the year 8-5 and lost four of their final five games. However, several players had impressive seasons and have strong cases for being on the cover but only one player can be picked.

[autotag]Cameron Artis-Payne[/autotag] had the tough task of attempting to replace the production of [autotag]Michael Dyer[/autotag] and he proved to be up to the task. He wracked up 1,608 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground en route to being named to the All-SEC First-Team.

Artis-Payne rushed for over 100 yards in nine different games including a monster game against Texas A&M where he ran for 221 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.

His great season was just enough to edge out wide receiver [autotag]Sammie Coates[/autotag] and cornerback [autotag]Jonathan Jones[/autotag] both of whom had breakout seasons for the Tigers.

Here are the best photos of each of the candidates that could have been used as the cover image.

Michael Dyer lands on ‘biggest recruiting busts of all-time’ list

Dyer was vital during Auburn’s 2010 National Championship season, but his career did not finish on as high of a note.

Auburn’s 2010 recruiting class was one of the best in the nation. The Tigers ended with the No. 6 overall class, and it featured several key names such as [autotag]Trovon Reed[/autotag], [autotag]Corey Lemonier[/autotag], and [autotag]Cody Parkey[/autotag].

This recruiting cycle is best known for Auburn’s hunt for three strong running backs: [autotag]Michael Dyer[/autotag], Lache Seastrunk, and Marcus Lattimore. Auburn ended up signing Dyer, who became Auburn’s top signee of the class.

Dyer contributed early by rushing for 1,093 yards and five touchdowns during Auburn’s national championship-winning season in 2010. He followed that season by rushing for 1,242 yards and ten scores in 2011.

However, he was suspended from the 2011 Chick-Fil-A Bowl, which began a downward spiral for the once-prized recruit.

He would leave Auburn following the 2011 season to join Gus Malzahn at Arkansas State but never played a down. He transferred to Arkansas Baptist before ultimately settling at Louisville. Dyer did not enjoy the same success at Louisville as he did with Auburn, as he only rushed for 704 yards on 154 carries over two seasons.

Because of his abnormal college career, 247Sports has placed Dyer on their Biggest recruiting busts of all-time list. 247Sports compiled this list based on input from college football fans across the country and then used a rating system to determine how strong each claim is. 247Sports’ Carter Bahns gives Dyer a three. Bahns says that Dyer’s contributions to Auburn’s 2010 championship season negate most of the claim, but his offseason issues prevented him from having a strong ending to his career.

In a 2015 interview with AL.com, Dyer stated that leaving Auburn was “the lowest point” of his college career.

“To be honest, I ask myself all the time. Even at Auburn, I asked myself (if) I was to stay there three years, then where would I have been? The only answer I can come up with every time (is) I probably wouldn’t even still be there because I didn’t grow up. I didn’t understand exactly about football and everything that comes with football. I came out of high school and I had good talent and a lot of people around me supported me, but never really the structure to understand what it takes to maintain. Going through everything I went through, I understand that now.”

Despite off-field and academic issues, as well as injuries during his time at Louisville, Dyer ended his college career with 3,039 yards on 578 attempts with 22 touchdowns.

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Best Auburn football recruit from every state since the year 2000

Since 2000, Auburn has signed talented players from 20 different states and the District of Columbia. Here are the best of the best.

Since 2000, Auburn has won a BCS National Championship, three SEC Championships, a Heisman Trophy, Lombardi Trophy, National Coach of the Year by three different head coaches … and that is just the beginning. Add in another trip to the BCS title game, two more SEC West titles and two undefeated seasons, and you can see why recruits regularly have the Tigers near the top of their list.

A slew of 5-stars have come to the Plains during that time as well and, while some haven’t worked out as planned, there have been many difference makers such as Derrick Brown, Cadillac Williams and Montravius Adams, just to name a few.

The talent has come from all over the United States as well as the Tigers have gone into 20 different states plus the District of Columbia to find some of the players players in the nation.

But who are the best of the best? We take a look at the top signee from each state since the beginning of the 21st century.

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