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Thoughts On the Loss...

Here are some random thoughts:

• I can agree with Lane's decision not to call time-outs at the end of the game.  For one, our defense wasn't stopping anything so calling time-outs only gives UW more possessions to set-up for a chip-shot FG.  Better to play the odds by reducing the number of plays to set up for a longer field-goal where ST can possibly make a block or hope for a miss.
  
  
• Something has to change with our safeties.  I said before the Virginia game that we'd get into trouble in coverage with the T.J. and Jawanza; that was put into full display when we got burned for the long TD pass after Jawanza bit on the crossing route.  This has happened over and over all season.  We have two strong safeties as our last line of defense.
  
  
• Our linebackers are truly confused and it is scary.  I've seen countless plays where our linebackers will try to inexplicably fill gaps rather than contain the edges on outside plays.  Sark did a great job running a bunch of misdirection plays to exploit this.  This is a very disturbing trend.
  
  
• Sad to see Allen Bradford's game go to waste; AB ran the ball beautifully yesterday.  His combination of patience, power, and quickness was something to watch.   

To close, Stanford is going to be a tough game to watch.  Harbaugh's game-plan is simple: run the ball down our throats off-tackle and then call play-action when our defense tries to cheat the run game.  It's not going to be pretty.

Armond Armstead Out 6 to 8 Weeks With Broken Foot; Patrick Hall Likely Out for Season With Torn ACL

From the Official Site:

Defensive end Armond Armstead broke the fifth metatarsal (outer most bone) in his left foot during practice on Thursday morning and will require surgery. Armstead, a sophomore who has played on the first-unit defensive line during training camp, is expected to be out for six weeks.

Tough break.  This is a big loss since Armond is our only real big run stopping DE.  I guess on the bright side, reports say he should only be out 6-8 weeks, which means he should be back for possibly the Cal game.

Patrick Hall is most likely out for the season with a torn ACL.  He injured his knee in Wednesday's practice doing individual drills; initially it was thought to be a minor tweak but later revealed to be an ACL tear. Definitely bad news, but from an immediate impact standpoint, it really has little effect since Patrick hasn't officially participated competitively in practices due to academic issues and guys like Jawanza Starling have stepped it up.

Josh Pinkard Gets His 6th Year, Jawanza Starling Signs, and Other Recruiting Updates...

A handful of updates since my last post:

• Jawanza Starling faxed over his letter-of-intent on Thursday morning.  This is the 2nd year in a row USC will pick up a recruit from Lincoln HS in Tallahassee, FL (FSU pipline).  There were thoughts last year, after we picked up T.J. Bryant, that Starling would be a prospect that the coaches keep an eye on; nice to see that fulfill over a course of a year.  I love seeing the inroads being made into the state of Florida.

Starling is a big-time get for SC since we will have a mass exodus in the secondary in 2010 similar to what we saw with the linebackers this year.  Jawanza is a nasty hitter with great closing speed and he's going to fit nicely alongside Drew McAllister, who looked very good in limited minutes this year. 

• USC also picked up LOIs from Simione Vehikite and Hebron Fangupo.  I haven't seen Simione play but from what I've read he's going to play the hybrid FB role behind Stanley Havili.

Hebron is another big-time get and candidate to get early PT.  There is a reason why he was rated the #2 player and #1 DT in the JC Top 100 - this guy is simply huge.  He should be key in clogging up the middle next season.  Last year we were a little light at NT, although Jurrell Casey stepped in and looked solid as a freshman; Hebron will split time with Jurrell and Christian Tupou. 

• Saving the best for last, Josh Pinkard received his 6th year of eligibility from the NCAA after injuring his knee two years in a row, which means he will forego entering the NFL draft.  Josh looked solid last season and more importantly stayed healthy. 

Josh will move back to his original position at FS.  This means our starting 4 next season will be Pink, Mays, Wright, and KeTo putting our secondary at the top of the list in the Pac-10.

I love how this secondary perfectly compliment each other.  KeTo will be the pure cover corner lining up against faster receivers while Shareece will make plays in the flats and blitz from the blind-side; Pink will make the natural transition back to the center field role while Taylor will essentially play a hybrid position of SS/4th LB taking away the corners.

Other Recruiting News

With Starling, Fangupo, and Vehikite signing, Chris Metcalf is the only commit left from the '09 class unsigned.  I was surprised that Chris didn't pull a Michael Bumpus from '04 and jump ship after seeing us pull in our DB class. 

He has academic issues which is the current hold-up, but I won't be surprised if Chris has a change of heart about coming to SC.  With Moore, Hall, McDonald, and Starling coming in, Chris will have a hard time getting any PT.  

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With 3 scholarships remaining, SC is still on the radar for Bryce Brown and Orson Charles.  Bryce (top-rated RB from Kansas) was by far and away the best player at the Army All-American practices/game.  (I'm still perplexed as to how Tajh Boyd earned co-MVP honors with Bryce).  Miami is still the favorite in this race with his brother Arthur currently enrolled there, although there have been rumors of Arthur looking to transfer, but SC is still definitely in the running.

Bryce has gone on record saying he wants to be used like Reggie Bush, so it's no surprise that he'll take an official visit to Tennessee next week and then likely SC afterwards.  I've seen a lot of Bryce and he reminds me of a cross between Reggie and Jonathan Stewart; he's compact and physically imposing like Jonathan but has great explosion out of his cuts like Reggie.  After the Army AA game, he was without question the #1 player in the nation in my mind; if he came to SC, he would overtake Matty B. as the gem of the class IMO. 

As for Orson Charles, TE hasn't been a big priority in this class with Blake Ayles looking like a future 1st round pick.  Orson showed nice catching ability at the Army All-American practices/game, but with SC being the early favorite for Christian Thomas next year, and again TE being a non-priority, I'm a little ambivalent in this situation.