Rutgers Coach Kyle Flood and kids who "committed" to Rutgers for the recruiting class of '14...from SB Nation...

The Nightmare Class of 2014

This class was ranked as high as top 15 in the country with pledges from big-time recruits such as Jon Hilliman, Tyler Wiegers, and some 4-star WR who now resides in not-so-happy valley, PA. According to 247, the Knights finished up with the 53rd ranked class in the country, nearly 40 spots down from where they once stood. Some key players like Josh Hicks and Robert Martin remained as well as Kiy Hester transferring back. However, the pains of that nightmare still haunt Rutgers fans as Donald Bedell became the 4th player from the class transfer, not to mention the dismissal of Darian Dailey. Of course we must also remember we may never see Sidney Gopre due to academic reasons. Why did all of this happen? The answer is literally the same reason that the 2016 Dream team never happened: The Domino Effect.

The falling of the dominoes was caused by Flood instilling his beliefs on these player pledged to him. They were supposedly "committed" to Rutgers but still wanted to go on official visits. Flood wanted these players to honor their commitment to the university and heavily discouraged them but they did not want to listen. For this reason, they went off and did their own thing. Eventually, one player after another began to head elsewhere until it was just Saeed Blacknall. He was holding the class together until the last minute when he bolted for the hype train and never looked back. This is purely the result of Kyle Flood being up front and honest with these kids and them not being able to respond and buy in.