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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: 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.

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.

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.

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.