Mark McBath was a stud before he blew his knee out against OU in 1977. When he returned, he was a stud, beat the shit out of Maryland in the Sun Bowl 42 -0 and went off to medical school.
Jon Aune also was seriously injured against OU in 1977. When he returned he was not the same player. I don't think he belongs in the underperformer group, especially considering he played under Akers who was not renowned as an offensive genius.
After McBath and Aune went down, Randy McEachern took the reins handing off to Earl undefeated until Notre Dame kicked the Longhorns' asses in the Cotton Bowl.
Hardeman, Henry and a couple of other Mack Brown gems were known troublemakers in HS, but Brown signed them nonetheless. One of those assholes hooked up with FR Andre Jones the 5* DL from El Paso and led him to a path of crime, drugs, self-destruction and death at a young age.
Ivan Williams was a very good player who whose talents dipshit Greg Davis refused to exploit. He tore Nebraska a new asshole on short passes out of the backfield only to have Davis suffer amnesia and not call the play the remainder of the season.
Ramonce Taylor is the undisputed winner in the self-inflicted waste column. He was a stud for Texas. Had he kept his life together he would have been an All American and possibly a Heisman contender. He had great vision, balance, acceleration and ability to find holes and hit them quickly. He also had an attitude and focus about advancing the ball to the end zone. It was as if he didn't give a damn about or was oblivious to the opposing players - they were simply pieces on the board to avoid while moving forward. He never seemed to get hit hard when tackled. His Texas highlight films are insane. That 2005 backfield was unparalleled: Jamal, Selvin and Taylor.