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USC Dominates 2009 NFL Draft with 11 Players Taken

Final list of players drafted:

1st Round, 5th:  Mark Sanchez, QB - NY Jets

1st Round, 15th:  Brian Cushing, OLB - Houston Texans

1st Round, 26th:  Clay Matthews, OLB - Green Bay Packers

2nd Round, 6th:  Rey Maualuga, ILB - Cincinnati Bengals

2nd Round, 24th:  Fili Moala, DT - Indianapolis Colts

3rd Round, 23rd:  Patrick Turner, WR - Miami Dolphins

4th Round, 4th:  Kaluka Maiava, OLB - Cleveland Browns

4th Round, 17th:  Kyle Moore, DE - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

5th Round, 36th:  David Buehler, K - Dallas Cowboys

6th Round, 10th:  Cary Harris, CB - Buffalo Bills

6th Round, 16th:  Kevin Ellison, SS - San Diego Chargers

USC led the way with 11 players taken; Ohio State had the 2nd most with 7 players.  Coach Herm Edwards had this to say about SC:

"If you want to play pro football and you're a young high school athlete, you know going to USC is going to give you the best opportunity system-wise and competitive-wise on the field."

"That's what USC brings to the table. That's why historically, year-after-year you see all these players coming into the league. Do they all make it? No, but you have an opportunity."

Take note recruits ;-).

USC Pro Day: Rey Makes Up for Combine Performance

photo from uscripsit.com

From USCRipsIt.com:

- LB Brian Cushing: 4.67 and 4.73
- S Kevin Ellison: 4.75
- CB Cary Harris: 4.68
- LB Kaluka Maiava: 4.66 and 4.68
- LB Clay Matthews: 4.58
- LB Rey Maualuga: 4.69
- DE Kyle Moore: 4.77
- WR Patrick Turner: 4.59

Biggest gain today was from Rey who ran a 40-time that was clocked between high 4.5's to low 4.7's. This was a big improvement over his disappointing showing at the NFL combine where he tweaked his hamstring during the run.

Cary Harris once again struggled with the 40, but Todd McShay said it was due to a knee injury.  I agree with Todd, and most SC fans, that Cary and Kevin Ellison are two picks that will go late due to their less-than-spectacular results at the work-outs, but prove to be ballers at the next level.

Looks like Mark, Cush, Rey, and Clay have solidified themselves as 1st round picks, which will make 2009 the 2nd year in a row that SC will produce 4 players in the 1st round.  That streak could possibly continue next year with Taylor Mays, Shareece Wright, Damian Williams, and a guy like Charles Brown if he can put together a great year.

USC Leads the Way With 12 Invitees to NFL Combine

Here's the list of invitees:

Mark Sanchez - QB
Brian Cushing - OLB
Rey Maualuga - ILB/MLB
Clay Matthews Jr. - WDE/OLB
Kevin Ellison - SS
Cary Harris - CB
Kaluka Maiava - OLB
Fili Moala - DT
Kyle Moore - DE
Josh Pinkard - CB/FS
Patrick Turner - WR
David Buehler - Kicker

The list above is just ridiculous.  Every player on there (minus David Buehler) has a shot at being a 1st day pick.  Digging deeper, you have 5 potential 1st rounders in Mark, Cush, Rey, Clay, and Fili plus three legitimate sleeper picks in Kevin Ellison, Kaluka Maiava, and Cary Harris.  Both PT and Kyle Moore can be solid contributors if placed in the right situations; Kyle was actually a surprise performer at the Senior Bowl.

As for Josh Pinkard, he's made his intentions clear that he'll return for his 6th year if he is granted eligilibity by the NCAA.  If Josh comes back, he'll likely start in the FS role alongside Taylor Mays who is looking to play closer to the line.  In Nickle packages, we'd see Josh slide over and Will Harris step in.  Considering Josh was once one of our more talented players on defense, he can definitely boost his draft stock with a solid injury-free season.

All Pac-10 Conference Football Team Announced

From Pac-10.org:

1st Team

Offense

TE - Fred Davis, SR
OL - Chilo Rachal, JR
OL - Sam Baker, SR:

Defense

DL - Sedrick Ellis, SR
DL - Lawrence Jackson, SR
LB - Keith Rivers, SR
LB - Rey Maualuga, JR
DB - Kevin Ellison, JR

2nd Team

Defense

DB - Terrell Thomas, SR

Honorable Mention

LB - Brian Cushing, JR
DL - Everson Griffen, FR
DB - Cary Harris, JR
DB - Taylor Mays, SO
RB/PR - Joe McKnight, FR
OT - Drew Radovich, SR
OL - Matt Spanos, SR
RB - Chauncey Washington, SR
LB - Thomas Williams, SR

Sedrick Ellis also won the "Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year" award.  I thought the list was pretty solid especially compared to Rivals.com list, but the only omission that surprised me was Jeff Byers; he should have at least made it to the 2nd team.  Congrats to all the players.

TNYC Arizona Review

Here's my review of yet another tight game:

• Positive - Strong Defensive Play
  

• The defense led the way once again and shutdown the Wildcats in the 2nd half.  With this game, the 1st team defense has only allowed two teams to score more than 15 points this season - that's a very impressive stat.  At times in the 1st half, the defense looked a little shaky, but adjustments were made and Arizona was only able to get inside SC's 40 once in the 2nd half.

Leading the way for the defense was Kevin Ellison with 9 tackles and 1 forced fumble.  The defense recovered 3 fumbles total which gave SC the win in the turnover battle (3-2). 

• Negative - Wide Receiver Play
  

• For some reason our receivers continue to struggle to get any separation.  I had a nice corner view of the action on Saturday and Cason/Fontenot were stuck to our receivers like glue for most of the game.  I guess I have to give some slack to our young receivers since they did line up against one of the top CB duos in the nation, but it's not like they're lacking in talent.  Our receivers need to step their game up plain and simple. 
  

• Player of the Game - Joe McKnight
  

• Players like Kevin Ellison had more complete games, but without Joe's punt return and 59-yard run, we might have come out of the Coliseum with a loss.  They were the game-changing plays needed to spark SC's comeback. 
  

• Play of the Game - Joe McKnight's Punt Return
  

• Up until Joe's punt return the crowd was completely out of it and the team looked sluggish.  After Joe caught Keenyn Crier's punt and broke it left up the sideline for a 40-yard return, the entire dynamic of the game changed.  The crowd was suddenly up on their feet jumping up and down with a sense of urgency and players on the sideline were waving their towels telling the crowd to get louder.  You just felt that the offense was going to do something good on the drive and Mark responded with a 25 yard TD pass to Fred Davis that sent the spark into a full blaze. 
  

• Final Thoughts... - Sanchez's Gutty Performance

• Last week I wrote in my "Why I believe Mark..." post that the offense needed a leader/playmaker over experience/efficiency, and I think Mark's performance on Saturday exemplified that.  He didn't put up impressive stats, but he made plays (often from nothing) when the offense needed one and the team/fans seemed to feed off his enthusiasm and leadership late in the game.  His pass to Fred Davis in the 4th quarter was excellent as he looked right to freeze the safety and then hit Fred perfectly in stride.  In the last drive, Mark scrambled for two 1st downs which forced Arizona to burn all their time-outs, set up a chip shot FG, ate up 6 minutes off the clock, and left Arizona with less than a minute to try and tie the game.

When you consider that Mark hadn't taken a single snap with Matt Spanos all week, had a o-line that had only one true starter protecting him in his 1st start ever, and a receiving corp that was tightly covered by an elite CB duo, it makes Mark's plays all that more impressive.  Personally I would like to see Mark get another start next week since I think he's poised to have a breakout performance.  I trust the coaches to make the right decision...

Many are predicting the game against Notre Dame this week to be close, but I'm predicting the opposite:  we will win by at least 2 TDs; I think our offense matches up well against their defense.   Plus Stafon is expected to return which will take some pressure off our QB and receivers.  I was wrong with Arizona, but I have a good feeling about this one...