Ask Farrell: Was Myles Garrett's outburst a surprise?
During the final rankings meetings for the 2013 class, there was extensive conversation about moving Da’Shawn Hand off the No. 1 spot and replacing him with Myles Garrett.
The five-star defensive end from Arlington (Texas) Martin was so dominant at the Under Armour All-America Game just weeks prior that it immediately became clear that Garrett should be in the conversation for the top billing.
It was decided that Garrett would be No. 2, that Hand would stay at No. 1, but since that time Garrett has proven that was a mistake. He went to Texas A&M and registered 31 sacks in three seasons. He was the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft where there were never whispers of any serious character issues.
His time in Cleveland has also gone well as Garrett has 72 tackles and 30.5 sacks, now in his third season with the Browns.
Which brings us to Thursday night.
Garrett was involved in one of the ugliest scenes in NFL history when he ripped Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet off his head and then swung it at Rudolph, striking him in the head. He has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
The actions also seem to be completely opposite of Garrett’s personality through his high school career when he went through the recruiting process as a thoughtful, sophisticated recruit. He spoke eloquently about picking Texas A&M during an incredibly busy time in his life.
We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell what he remembers about Garrett during those high school years and how much Thursday's scene shocked him.
ASK FARRELL
“Of course this was a long time ago but the Myles Garrett I dealt with, and our analysts dealt with, was a super smart, thoughtful and nice kid. In fact we often discussed among ourselves how he flips a switch to be so physical on the field because he was such a mild-mannered kid. Now this is only a very small snapshot of what we truly know about Garrett and it’s from a few years ago, but everyone I talked to about him even during his college years raved about his character.
"The NFL was correct in suspending Garrett for the rest of the regular season. But the talk of kicking him out of the league or about criminal charges is ridiculous. This was in the heat of the moment. Rudolph went after Garrett’s helmet first and he had two guys charging him. It was wrong but it was also out of character for the Garrett we all got to know.”