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Recruiting: Update on the 2010 USC Recruiting Class

Quick updates on our current commitments:

• Dillon Baxter, RB
  Status:  Soft Verbal
  Prediction:  USC
  
  Dillon took the news of Pete leaving hard and has been looking around. He's scheduled to take an official visit to Oregon this weekend and Florida the following.  Chip Kelly is selling Dillon on being the next running QB in the Oregon spread offense; Urban is selling Dillon on being an all-everything back/receiver.
  
  In the end, I think Dillon stays committed to SC, although I'm not as confident about it as before. Right now SC has the advantage in that the competing schools are far from home and run a very different system from SC.  The cohesiveness of the current class should help, especially with kids like Kyle Prater and Robert Woods constantly in his ear.  I think a solid visit from the coaches will seal this recruitment.

• Robert Woods, WR
  Status:  Solid Verbal
  Prediction:  USC
  
  Robert didn't seem phased at all by Pete's departure.  Robert and his dad are set on SC, and with Damian headed to the draft, Woods has a solid shot to earn PT as a freshman.  My knock on him has always been his route-running, but watching him at the Army All-American game/practices, I was very impressed with how much he's tightened up his routes.

• Kyle Prater, WR
  Status:  Solid Verbal (Early Enrollee)
  Prediction:  USC
  
  After a shaky weekend, Kyle solidified his recruitment with the hiring of CLK and will enroll in classes on Monday.  It's always made sense for Kyle to come to SC due to our pro system.  Kyle needs to be in a pro-set to fully utilize his size and talents as a possession receiver.

Recruiting: Breaking Down the Official Visit List for USC-UCLA

Kyle Prater

The official visit list:

• Kyle Prater, WR (Hillside, IL)
  Ranking:  5-Star, #2 Overall, #1 WR
  Status:  Committed
  - SC will try to seal the deal on Kyle who is expected to be a December graduate and early enrollee. The recruiting battle has come down to SC and ND.  This is the perfect opportunity to lock-in Kyle's commitment with all the turmoil in South Bend.

• Jackson Jeffcoat, DE (Plano, TX)
  Ranking:  5-Star, #6 Overall, #1 DE
  Status:  Texas, USC, Houston
  - Looks like Texas leads this battle with Houston as the dark-horse pick due to Jackson's dad being on the coaching staff.  SC still has a real shot at landing Jackson.  The coaches can sell the early playing time here at the strong-side spot with Armond Armstead flipping between SDE and DT (true position). 

• Dillon Baxter, WR/RB (San Diego, CA)
  Ranking:  4-Star, #26 Overall, #1 All-Purpose RB
  Status:  Committed
  - Dillon has stayed solid through his commitment but recently took an official visit to Michigan where he was guaranteed early playing time.  Still looks like Dillon is firmly committed.  SC has the wildcat formation ready to go for next year.

TNYC: Thoughts on Washington State Win

Here are some random thoughts on the win:

- It was a win, but a frustrating one.  The 1st quarter started smoothly with a quick 3-and-out from Wazzu followed by a quick TD from SC, but then 3 holding penalties, 1 offsides, 1 personal foul, and 1 roughing the kicker happened.  Let's not even talk about the 3rd quarter...

- Nice to see Brice Butler get his 1st career TD.  There was a overhead shot during the broadcast and you could see Brice start from the slot, move inside on the safety and then get nice separation off the break on the corner route; the defender really had no chance on the play.  You can watch Brice talk about the play here.

- Matt Barkley's throw to Damian Williams on the 3rd TD was a thing of beauty and the play of the day.  The anticipation and quick-decision showed why he is so highly-regarded.  If you look at the play, Matt drops back looking left, checks off, makes a split-second decision to throw to Damian, and then delivers a perfect touch pass (while getting hit) over the Wazzu linebackers' heads and between the safeties.

Credit also goes to Coach Bates/Morton for calling a great play.  In post-game interviews, the coaches/players talked about seeing large gaps in the middle of the field while studying game tapes last week.  If you watch the play closely, the formation is trips right and 1 receiver to the left; off the snap every receiver runs a streak up field, but the key to the play is the SC tackles let the ends run by them and Joe McKnight, rather than block, jumps forward to mimic a screen play which causes Wazzu's linebackers to bite and take a step forward allowing Damian to run right by them and split the safeties. Great play all-around.

- Want to talk about a player doing work?  Nick Perry has 6 sacks already playing limited minutes.  He is currently the Pac-10 leader in the category.  Nick just has that sixth sense for getting to the quarterback; he set a Michigan state record with 36 sacks in 2007 as a HS senior.

- Some prospects that showed up for Saturday's game:  Sharrif Floyd (official visit), Ronald Powell, Robert Woods, George Farmer, Marquis Lee, George Uko, Dietrich Riley, Dion Bailey, Joshua Shaw, Antwaun Woods, Demetrius Wright, and more.  The list of visitors could literally make up one side of a HS All-American game.

- Some big injuries from the game: Hebron Fangupo (broken fibula) and Marshall Jones (cracked vertebra) are out for the season.  Jordan Campbell also sprained his ankle and Garrett Green suffered a concussion.

- Have to give props to my man Allen Bradford for running pissed off all game. His stiff-arm on the run in the 2nd quarter was vicious.  Allen NEEDS MORE CARRIES.

Onto Cal, which should be an interesting game.  My head says this game should match up well for SC since we usually win against teams that rely heavily on the run, but considering how undisciplined and inconsistent our offense has looked, it's hard for me to feel confident.  Despite Cal's beatdown last week, this game still deserves a lot of hype, since it essentially makes or breaks both teams' seasons.  It should be a tough one.

TNYC: Thoughts on the Washington Loss

This loss was tough to swallow.  When Kevin Thomas tried to go for the big hit rather than wrap up Chris Polk on the 2nd and long on U-Dub's final drive setting up a 3rd and 15 rather than 3rd and 20, I felt slightly sick in my stomach; I knew something bad was about to happen and it was confirmed on the next play when Jake Locker rolled out to his right and threw a bullet down the sideline for a 21 yard completion and a Husky 1st down.  In my mind, the game was over at that point.

Having let the loss soak in a bit and thinking through the rest of the season, I feel a lot better about Saturday's loss.  Here are some positive things to think about:

1.  Washington likely won't contend for Pac-10 title:  I might end up eating my words, but I just don't think the Huskies are consistent enough to make a serious push for the Pac-10 title (yet). The odds are definitely stacked against them.  Since the Pac-10 champion is decided on a round-robin system, even with the loss, SC is still in the driver's seat to win the Pac-10 title.

2.  An early loss will serve as a nice reality check and take some pressure off:  The players will get a nice refresher course on fundamentals and disciplined play and that should translate to a big win against Washington State at home on Saturday which sets up nicely for Cal the following week.  With SC's loss to UW, Cal will most likely be favored, which puts SC in a rare underdog position. Going back to 2007, the last time Cal had a ton of pressure and hype behind them, stepping away from the limelight might not be such a bad thing.

3.  Minimal overlap between UW and SC recruiting:  U-Dub's win will be a major selling point to recruits, but fortunately SC and UW don't have too many head-to-head battles for key recruits. I do have a gut feeling that we'll lose Demetrius Wright after this loss, but outside of that, there's no real concern of a recruiting fall-out.

Having read the latest reports and seen Barkley's post-game interview, even though it's not official, I'd be willing to bet a whole lot of money that he'll be back for Washington State.  If the coaches can get the "It's all about the ball" mentality back in the players' heads and open up the playbook a bit, we should be fine.

Demetrius Wright's Leaders Remain the Same; Cuts Florida From List of Schools

From ESPN.com:

"Washington and USC are my co-leaders right now," Wright said. "I have a visit set up with Washington (Sept. 5) and I'm also visiting Tennessee (Sept. 18). I'm going to visit USC for sure and I also want to visit Arizona, probably when Jordon [teammate Jordon James] visits there."

During the summer, Wright had Florida high on his list after the Gators offered a scholarship, but said he's no longer looking at the defending national champs.

"I talked with my dad and we just thought it wasn't the best option for me," Wright said. "Distance played a little bit of a role, but I like the schools I have on my list right now. With Washington, I could play right away and they have been recruiting me harder than anyone.

"USC has always been a dream school for me and I spent a lot of time watching them at spring practice and scrimmages. I like Arizona's reputation with producing good cornerbacks and I have a close relationship with coach [Tim] Kish there.

Not much has changed here apart from Florida being cut from the list of schools; USC and Washington have been at the top of Demetrius' list all summer long. Much like the situations with George Uko, Dietrich Riley, etc., Demetrius has talked up SC (in the quote above he names SC his "dream school") but can't seem to get over the luster of immediate PT elsewhere.

We currently have a CB commit in Anthony Brown, who is solid and should be a great cover guy, but we also need a taller CB who fits more into our Cover 2 schemes.  SC has been pushing to get Joshua Shaw, CB prospect out of Palmdale, CA, since the Rising Stars camp, but he seems to be leaning more towards Ohio State as of late.  Demetrius is really the last elite CB prospect on our current radar that can fit the tall CB role.  It sounds more and more like this recruiting battle will go on for a while.

Thoughts on the Initial 2010 ESPNU 150 Ranking

From ESPN.com:

01.  Jackson Jeffcoast, DE
03.  Ronald Powell, DE
04.  Seantrel Henderson, OT
09.  Tony Jefferson, LB
17.  DeMarco Cobbs, WR
20.  Lache Seastrunk, RB
22.  Robert Woods, WR
24.  Sean Parker, S
28.  Xavier Grimble, TE
35.  D.J. Morgan, RB
42.  Joshua Shaw, CB
43.  Kyle Prater, WR
57.  Jesse Scroggins, QB
61.  Anthony Barr, RB
63.  Demetrius Wright, CB
68.  Khairi Fortt, LB
72.  Malcolm Jones, RB
111.  Dietrich Riley, RB/S
129.  Christian Thomas, TE
130.  George Uko, DT
138.  Dillon Baxter, RB/WR
139.  Ricky Heimuli, DT
146.  Cecil Whiteside, LB

Pretty bad list overall but there are some great calls mixed in with a lot of horrible ones. Here's my breakdown:

Great Calls

• Chris Dunkley @ #13:  He's currently rated #74 on Rivals but deserves to be much higher.  He's a little too high at #13 player due to his size but he's definitely top 30 talent.
• Sean Parker @ #24:  Been one of my most talked about recruits despite him likely going to ND but he's ranked #85 in Rivals and deserves to be top 30.

Good Calls

• Demetrius Wright @ #63:  Much better than #115 in Rivals.
• Malcolm Jones @ #72:  Who's been saying Malcolm is not even close to a top 20 player and should be out of the top 50 since March/April?
• D.J. Morgan @ #35:  I'm going to go bearish on the current USC commit and say D.J. dropping from #20 in Rivals to #35 in ESPN is a good call.  I actually think D.J. should drop a little further. He's a dynamic player but not good enough in any single area to deserve a top 25 ranking.
• Kyle Prater @ #43:  He's the top receiver on Rivals at #4 which I believe is way too high.
• Ronald Powell @ #3:  Top 3 is slightly high but the guy is a freak and can play both offense and defense.  Definitely a top 10 player.

Bad Calls

• Tony Jefferson @ #9:  I'm a BIG fan of Tony but there is no way he's a top 10 player overall.  Based on his tweener status alone he shouldn't be close to top 15.  He fits nice at #30-45 range.
• Lache Seastrunk @ #20:  Lache is absolutely a top 10 player.
• Trovon Reed @ #45:  Trovon is a top 3 receiver in this class.
• Anthony Barr @ #61:  Deserves to be ranked higher despite being too big for his position.
• Khairi Fortt @ #68:  Khairi is a top 35 player.

Horrible Calls

• Dillon Baxter @ #138:  Very bad call.  Dillon's stood out at elite camps all summer. He's an absolute top 50 player.
• DeMarco Cobbs @ #17:  The worst pick in this entire ranking.  DeMarco is way too raw to be top 20.  Almost laughable.
• Dietrich Riley @ #111:  Both Rivals and ESPN are completely snoozing on this one.
  
• Chris Martin @ #144:  Have to defend a damn Irish player here - #144?!
• George Uko @ #130:  George should be no lower than top 75.

Definitely not an exhaustive list by any means but those are my thoughts based off a handful of glances.  Leave your thoughts.

USC Rising Stars Camp Day One: Jesse Scroggins Gets Offer

From WeAreSC.com:

The biggest names in attendance during the morning session were Ronald Powell, Jackson Jeffcoat, Jesse Scroggins, Dion Bailey, Dietrich Riley, Tony Jefferson, Ricky Heimuli, Dak Smith, Dontae Williams, Dillon Baxter, Trajuan Briggs, George Uko, Tyler Bray, Chase Rettig, Anthony Jefferson, Joshua Shaw, DeMarco Cobbs, Shaquille Richardson, Troy Niklas, Dak Smith, Anthony Brown, D.J. Morgan (did not participate), Justin Maclin, Josh Harper, Greg Townsend Jr., Victor Burnett, Tevin McDonald, Victor Blackwell, Jalen Grimble Tehvyn Brantley, Nick Rowland and Christian Westerman.

Prospects slotted to attend, although noticeably absent Wednesday morning, included Robert Woods (who did stop by), George Farmer, Lache Seastrunk, Erik Kohler, Trovon Reed, Cassius Marsh, Toney Hurd Jr., Demetrius Wright, Hayes Pullard, Giovanni DiPoala, Antwuan Woods, Soma Vainuka, Devon Blackmon, Marquis Flowers, Owamagbe Odighazuwa and Chris Martin.

Very disappointed to hear that Demetrius Wright and Sean Parker weren't at the camp.  Both have gone on record saying they would attend RSC, but maybe they'll show up for the other days.  Apart from Demetrius and Sean, it's good to see that all the key recruits were present.  Lache, Trovon Reed, and Chris Martin are all long shots at this point, so I'm not very disappointed to see their absence.

The biggest news coming out of today's camp is Jesse Scroggins picking up his long-awaited offer.  UT (Vols) has been recruiting Jesse heavily and made up a ton of ground.  With Mitch Mustain seemingly checked out after losing the Spring QB battle, it makes a lot more sense for us to pick up a QB in this class.  Jesse isn't spectacular, no one in this QB class is, but has a lot of upside that can develop in the right system.  He definitely needs to work on his mechanics, but he has the tools to succeed.

In other news, George Uko, a raw but high upside DT out of Chino also picked up an offer.  As much as I think Robert Woods is overhyped, I'm disappointed to see he didn't participate.  A surprise player that I really didn't know SC was recruiting much was Dontae Williams, the RB out of Texas.  From the reports I've read, many say he was one of the more impressive guys on day one.

Moving forward, SC absolutely needs to take a hold of Tony Jefferson this week who I think is straight beast mode, Dietrich Riley another elite prospect with great versatility, and Ronald Powell with all the recent Florida talk. It would also be great to see SC close on guys like George Uko, and Dion Bailey who are the non-attention-grabbing-but-solid-players that really fill out classes.  Another guy to keep an eye on is Shaquille Richardson who's a nice system guy.

There'll be more updates to come so stay tuned.

Demetrius Wright Names His Top 6 Schools; USC One of the Leaders

From ESPN.com:

"Right now, and this is in no order, my top six is USC, Florida, Washington, Tennessee, Arizona and Cal," Wright said. "USC and Florida have a slight lead, but I'm going to give everyone a fair shot and my trips will tell me a lot about where the best fit for me is."

Wright is a big, physical corner with the versatility to also play safety, if needed. He clocked a 4.49 40-meter dash at the Nike combine in Long Beach, has a great frame and projects very well at the college level.

Good stuff.

Kenny Stills & Demetrius Wright Top Players @ L.A. Scout Combines; Stills Tells SC to Get in Line

From Scout.com:

Kenny Stills – Wide Receiver – La Costa Canyon High School

Kenny Stills was our top overall performer at the L.A. Scout Combine this weekend. The La Costa Canyon wide receiver turned heads with a very impressive 4.36 forty, which was the fastest time of the day. Stills also stood out during the 1-on-1 drills where he made a variety of catches and beat pretty much every cornerback that he faced. Stills is a very polished receiver and showed great hands this weekend. Another thing that stood out about his performance was the fact that he always jumped to the front of the line to get more reps. It was another very impressive day for the four-star prospect who is having a terrific offseason.

Good stuff for Kenny, but that 40 has to be hand-timed.  No way this kid is sniffing a legit 4.36 - mark my word.  Regardless of his true time, his performance was good enough to get an offer from Florida, who seems to be playing tag-along as of late with offers to Stills and Demetrius Wright.

Kenny had some choice words for SC after the combine:

A few months ago, Stills sounded like a USC lock and even said he might commit on the spot if they offered. The Trojans eventually did offer but the receiver said he now wants to check out his other options.

"They kind of waited a little too long," Still said. "I mean, I still like them a lot but while they waited, it allowed other schools to gain my interest. Don't get me wrong, I still like USC a lot and still planning to camp with them but it's going to be a dogfight now and they're going to have to compete just like every other school that's now recruiting me."

This coming from the kid who once said he'd do anything and everything to earn an offer from SC.  Word of advice to Kenny: establish yourself as a top recruit before you start talking and burning bridges.  Don't turn into this year's Cierre Wood.

Moving onto Demetrius Wright, who's a great looking prospect and sorta under-the-radar at the moment:

Demetrius Wright – Defensive Back – Corona High School

While Kenny Stills was the star on the offensive side of the ball, a strong case could be made for Demetrius Wright as the top defensive player on Saturday. The athletic defensive back from Corona really jumped out during 1-on-1’s because of his physical play at the line of scrimmage. Wright did an outstanding job of jamming and re-routing the wide receivers all day. At times, you almost felt bad for the guys lined up in front of him because they literally couldn’t get off the line. He is a player on the rise and it was easy to see why schools like USC and Florida are really coming after him.

Glad SC is focusing on him.  Makes no sense that he's sitting outside the Rivals100; he's a top 75 guy at the very least.  Kid will be solid at either FS or CB at the next level.  I see him more as a safety.

New Rivals100: Ronald Powell Rated 5-Star; Demetrius Wright Enters Top 250

From Rivals.com:

12.  Ronald Powell - 5 Star
17.  Robert Woods - 4 Star
18.  D.J. Morgan - 4 Star
20.  Anthony Barr - 4 Star
24.  Xavier Grimble - 4 Star
27.  Dillon Baxter - 4 Star
32.  Malcolm Jones - 4 Star
38.  Markeith Ambles - 4 Star
41.  Brennan Clay - 4 Star
45.  Tony Jefferson - 4 Star
54.  Sean Parker - 4 Star
62.  Christian Thomas - 4 Star
70.  Jake Matthews - 4 Star
89.  Demarco Cobbs - 4 Star
102.  Demetrius Wright - 4 Star

Bold = Committed

Rivals just released their updated top 250 ranking.  Here are some thoughts:

- Ronald Powell moved up one spot and earned himself a 5th star, which I guess is deserved simply on his potential alone.

- Robert Woods moved into the top 20 which I don't understand.  Am I the only person that thinks there's too much hype behind this kid?  I personally think he's a fringe top 50 player.  Maybe I just don't see it.  To top it off, Woods moved up while Markeith Ambles dropped out of the top 30.  I'll take Ambles over Woods any day.

- Still not sold on current commit D.J. Morgan as a top 20 player.  No doubt he shows flashes of brilliance, but I don't know if he has the consistency.  Will have to wait and see.

- In the last ranking I commented on Malcolm Jones being too high at #11 so I definitely agree with him dropping down to #32.  He should be out of the top 50.

- Rivals keeps sleeping on Sean Parker, but I guess I can understand why since he's not a camp type of player and at this point that has the most weight.

- Demetrius Wright, who's been a hot name lately, finally moved into the top 250 debuting at #102.  Kid will continue to move up.  Hope SC plays this one hard.

- This year's QB class is BAD.