TrojanNYC.com

Recruiting: Dietrich Riley to UCLA

Nice pick-up for Bruins. Honestly think depth played major issue here.

Coaching: Willie Mack Garza Leaving Tennessee to Join USC Coaching Staff

And you thought Tennessee fans hated Lane Kiffin before?  That dial has been turned up another level.

Mack was one of the few remaining pieces of stability in UT recruiting.  UT just landed Justin Hunter this week after losing Markeith Ambles (who many expect will end up at SC); now they might potentially lose Hunter (among others) with Mack leaving.  This is a big blow for UT recruiting.

On to Willie Mack, this is a great hire by Lane.  Mack has tons of coaching experience and is a excellent recruiter.  He'll likely end up being the defensive backs coach, which on a side-note might seal the deal for Dietrich Riley to commit to SC, and will be big in making in-roads into Texas recruiting since he has a lot of roots in the state.

Recruiting: Tony Jefferson Back in Talks With USC

From ESPN.com:

"I'm going to visit USC this weekend," Jefferson said. "It's an official visit and I'm interested to see what they have to offer. They started calling me again and I just want to see what the coaches have to say.

"Back in the spring, they told me I was the only safety they were going to take and then at the Rising Stars Camp, I find out they're recruiting a bunch of other safeties, so that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like they should have been more up front about it.

"So we'll see what happens the rest of the way. Like I said, the coaches started talking to me again and USC is still a good school so I'm going to visit and see how it goes. UCLA will then be my last visit and since I'm graduating early, I'll be ready to announce in early January."

To recap, Tony was a silent commit back in Spring but got the cold shoulder during the Rising Stars Camp as the coaches focused more on Dion Bailey and Dietrich Riley.  Tony immediately cut talks with SC and committed to UCLA a month later.

Fast forward to present day, SC has a verbal commitment from Dion and Dietrich Riley is being recruited hard to Florida by recent Gator commit, Joshua Shaw; Tennessee has also been in the mix.  It still looks like SC is in prime position to land Dietrich, but it's not going to get any easier from here on out with Florida holding an official visit and Joshua talking in his ear all day.  No surprise that Coach Morton has started to re-recruit Tony.  If SC strikes out on Dietrich and Sean Parker and Tony remains at UCLA, we are left very thin at the safety spots. Next year we'll have Drew McAllister, who's been injured most of the season, and T.J. McDonald, a player that can easily out-grow his position, at the SS spots.

Putting all this context talk aside, Tony has stayed one of my favorite recruits of the 2010 class.  Kid can flat out ball and I'd bag him up on his versatility alone. How can you not take a player who is one of the best pure tacklers in this year's class and can legitimately play 3 positions (S, OLB, and RB)?  Even worse, how can you let this kid go to your rival school?  Even if scholarships were an issue, Tony is slated to graduate in December so SC could have him enroll early and count it against '09 - no problem.  As far as I'm concerned, the coaches have completely dropped the ball on this recruitment. Hopefully they can make amends and bring Tony back in.

Recruiting: Dietrich Riley Puts on a Show; Gives In-Game Shout-Out to Pete Carroll

From PasadenaStarNews.com:

St. Francis High School running back Dietrich Riley took a handoff from quarterback Justin Posthuma. He went 2 yards up the middle into the end zone untouched and when he reached the back of the goal line, he said, "Fight on, baby."

USC head coach Pete Carroll, standing against the goal post, just laughed.

The highly recruited senior, who has not made his collegiate choice, did not have time to say anything to Notre Dame assistant coach Jon Tenuta, who was also on the sidelines.

But he said a lot with his first-half actions.

Riley made some big tackles on defense and rushed for 109 yards and three scores on 13 carries to lead the undefeated Golden Knights to a 42-7 victory over visiting El Rancho on Thursday night.

"It was cool for them to take time out of their schedules to watch me play," Riley said. "It is a lot of pressure. They're here to see what I'm capable of doing, so I have to go out and do what I can do."

Dietrich is fresh off an official visit to Tennessee and the word is the Vols have made significant ground in his recruiting.  So with that said, it's nice to see Dietrich joking around with Coach Carroll.  Even with all the UT talk and Florida offering recently, many still believe USC will be the team to beat.

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.

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.

Disappointed: Tony Jefferson Heading to UCLA After Rising Stars Camp Treatment

From ESPN.com:

Jefferson was an early commitment to Stanford and then told me at the SoCal NIKE back in April that he had given a silent commitment to USC.

"I just thought it was best to go in a different direction," Jefferson said. "UCLA has really been recruiting me hard and I have a great relationship with Coach Neuheisal. He was personally recruiting me and I just think I fit in well at UCLA with the other players they have there.

"It wasn't anything negative with USC but I just think the opportunity to play early at UCLA was a better fit for me. I won't be taking any visits either, I'm done with recruiting. It was becoming stressful for me and overwhelming and right after I committed, I felt such a sense of relief so I know I did the right thing."

Tony was a silent commit at one point and leading up to the Rising Stars camp things started to change as the coaches cooled off.  After the camp, where Tony was basically relegated to 3rd string behind Dietrich Riley and Dion Bailey, the damage was done.  Now he's going to be a Bruin and TNYC is MAD DISAPPOINTED.

Mark it down right here, Tony is one of most underrated prospects in this class. In my opinion there isn't a more explosive and sure-tackler at the OLB spot in this class.  Yes, he is a tweener, which might be the reason why the coaches cooled off since Dietrich Riley is a much better prospect at safety and we already have a undersized explosive OLB in Frankie Telfort coming in, but bottom line is Tony is a player that you always take and worry about fitting him in the system later. Again, very disappointed by this news.

Dion Bailey Commits to USC - Is Jesse Scroggins Next?

From SCPlaybook.com:

“I have a great relationship with the coaching staff and I love Coach Seto,” Bailey said of the Trojans. “It’s great to be coached by someone like that, and be around that type of coaching staff with their background, and their history of winning.

“They produce players for the NFL so it’s a great opportunity.”

Bailey recently attended USC’s Rising Stars Camp and said the time that he spent on campus with the USC staff aided him greatly in his final decision.

“It showed me how they run practices and how they like things done,” Bailey said. “We model our practices after them at Lakewood, so I felt right at home.

Solid pick-up once again following the Anthony Brown commitment last week.  That's two good defensive backs added to the list in less than a week.  With guys like Byron Moore, Jawanza Starling, and T.J. McDonald from last year's class the future looks bright in the secondary.

DB Recruiting Done?

Even with Dion committed, I think SC will pick up another safety and definitely another corner.  The most logical pick at Safety would be Dietrich Riley who can play both positions.  Another name to consider is Demetrius Wright, who I've been very high on.  Finally you got Sean Parker, who is my favorite safety in the 2010 class, but he seems to be going elsewhere.

Will Jesse Scroggins Follow?

Many expect Jesse Scroggins to follow through with a commitment to SC now that his high school buddy has made his announcement.  I would be shocked if he chose otherwise.

2009 USC Football Junior Day: Sean Parker Quotes, Malcolm Jones Offer, Cassius Marsh's Near Commitment, and More...

Some thoughts on USC's Junior Day:

• D.J. Morgan (above) and Dillon Baxter, both commits for 2010 class, are really making a concerted effort to try and recruit players to join the class.  Baxter, who's been very involved in the program, reminds me a lot of D.J. Shoemate who also committed early and was vocal early on.

• Cassius Marsh, DT from Oaks Christian, was ready to commit at Junior Day but refrained from doing so out of respect of his parents' advice to cool off and think things over.  Many still expect him to be a Trojan at some point.

• One of my favorite recruits of 2010, Sean Parker, took a break from the FBU camp over at the Coliseum to take in Junior Day.  Lot of schools are starting to pick up on Sean and he's getting a ton of offers.  The early word is he's looking to go to school out of state, but lately he's been open to staying local and is showing interest in SC.  He had this nice quote:

"Just being around the players and coaches on Saturday was incredible. They have so much energy and you get fired up being around them. They have a great football program and who wouldn't want to be a part of a team like that."

One of his best friends and former teammates is '09 commit, Byron Moore, so hopefully that'll provide some pull in bringing in Sean.