Da'-da-da, Da'-da-done, at least as far as the collegiate level is concerned.
(Writer’s note: don’t worry, I groaned typing that as much or more than you did reading it. Let’s all just move on and pretend like it never happened.)
One of the most naturally-gifted wide receivers in the country, Da’Rick Rogers saw his roller coaster ride -- to be kind -- at Tennessee come to an official end in late August due to what the player himself later admitted was failed drug tests.
After transferring to Tennessee Tech and getting his on-field house in order, Rogers caught 61 passes for 893 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2012 for the FCS program. Not so unexpectedly, that will be Rogers’ final season at Tech as the school announced Wednesday that the receiver has decided to bypass his senior season and enter the 2013 NFL draft.
In what turned out to be his last season with the Vols in 2011, Rogers led the team in receptions (67), receiving yards (1,040) and receiving touchdowns (nine). Following that breakout year, the former five-star recruit’s future with the Vols was up in the air in early December of 2011... and still up in the air in March of this year... and indefinitely suspended in August.
How Rogers’ “uneven” past-- again, to be kind -- will impact his future draft status is one of the great unknowns in the player’s leap to the NFL.