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UPDATE - Recruiting: Trajuan Briggs Switches Commitment From USC to Cal

From ESPN.com:

After Chris Martin (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) committed to Cal, one of the first things he said was he planned to do some serious recruiting for the Bears and added there were a lot of players on the weekend visit who are on the verge of joining him.

Two players mentioned specifically were USC commit Trajuan Briggs (Van Nuys, Calif./Birmingham) and J.R. Ferguson (Chatham, Va./Hargrave Military Academy). Briggs chose the Trojans over the Bears in a tight battle back in the summer, but Cal never let up and the back reportedly loved his visit last weekend.

Lot of talk going around about Trajuan backing off his commitment from USC after his official visit to Cal this past weekend.  Based on what I've heard, it sounds like it's only a matter of time before he opens up his recruitment.  This news is a bit surprising considering Trajuan had a great OV to USC a few weeks back.

Disappointing news, but RB is a position where we can afford to lose players. With D.J. Morgan already committed and the rumors regarding Lache Seastrunk to SC, we'll be perfectly fine.  To be quite honest, I'd prefer if we ended 2010 with only 1 RB commit (yes, meaning pass on Lache) to save room for some of next year's SERIOUS prospects (follow-up post coming soon).  Some of these 2011 RB are no joke.

Update: Trajuan, as expected above, decommitted from USC today and gave a verbal commitment to Cal.

Recruiting: Lache Seastrunk Names Reggie Bush His Favorite Player; Rumors that SC Might Be Back on Top

From TDTNews.com:

Adding to his expanding list of achievements, records and honors, star running back and top national recruit Seastrunk was selected to play for the West team in the 10th annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl at San Antonio's Alamodome in a Tuesday afternoon ceremony at Wildcat Stadium.

"This is a very impressive young man," Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, Commanding General U.S. Army Accessions Command, said of Seastrunk, one of the first three players to be chosen for January's All-American Bowl. "He's very humble and he's very motivated. He sets an example for the young people of Temple."

...Other bowl alumni include Heisman Trophy winners Tim Tebow and Seastrunk's favorite player, Reggie Bush.

"I want to actually be better than Reggie," Seastrunk said. "I want to be the first player to run for 200 yards in the game."

Lache is considered the most explosive RB in this year's class, so it's no surprise to see him name one of the most explosive college players of all-time as his favorite player.

On the recruiting front, there's some talk going around that SC is back at the top of Lache's list.  Up to this point, people thought he was either Auburn or LSU bound, but it seems like the conversation has changed as of late.  If you remember back to last year's Army All-American combine, Lache showed up in SC socks; he's always shown interest, but sorta cooled off in the off-season.  The interest seems to have come back; just this past weekend, Lache traveled to Berkeley to catch the SC-Cal game.  At this point, I'm still skeptical, but the talks and his visit to the game are definitely interesting news.

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.

Rivals Releases First Top 100 Ranking for 2010

Rivals.com

Complete ranking is here.  The following are some names that have SC high on their list:

2.  Lache Seastrunk, RB (TX)

6.  Jackson Jeffcoat, DE (TX)

10.  Jeff Luc, LB (FL)

11.  Malcolm Jones, RB (CA)

13.  Ronald Powell, ATH (CA)

14.  Trovon Reed, WR (LA)

17.  D.J. Morgan, RB (CA)

23.  Markeith Ambles, WR (GA)

26.  Robert Woods, WR (CA)

28.  Dillon Baxter, WR (CA)

42.  Tony Jefferson, LB (CA)

49.  Sean Parker, DB (CA)

57.  Christian Thomas, TE (CA)

62.  Jake Matthews, OL (TX)

77.  Delvin Jones, DE (FL)

80.  DeMarco Cobbs, WR (OK)

92.  Pete Thomas, QB (CA)

Bold = Current Commits

Lot of speculation came out of the Army All-American bowl as to whether Lache Seastrunk favored us since he was wearing SC socks (picture above) during practices - in all likelihood, probably shouldn't put too much stock in it.

Malcolm Jones and D.J. Morgan are rated too high and Sean Parker too low IMO. The one player I wish showed more interest in SC is Lamarcus Joyner (#7 player in nation) - kid is absolutely ridiculous.