TrojanNYC.com

Quick Recruiting Update: Tony Jefferson Expected to Commit to Oklahoma Tonight

That's the word on the street.  Will have a update later after he announces his decision.

TNYC: Random Thoughts From Week 14

Slick Rick, what were you thinking?  Here are my thoughts on Week 14:

• The hot post-game talk has been about Jeremy Bates/Pete Carroll's decision to drop a bomb on the Bruins after Slick Rick called a useless time-out late in the game.  All I gotta say is, if you take a jab, especially when it's in a RIVALRY game on the opponent's HOME turf, you better expect to get mollywhopped in return. Can't believe I'm quoting Bill Plaschke, but he puts it best:

The conclusion here was that Neuheisel's pettiness in the face of Carroll's professionalism was wrong.

In the end, while his players deserved better, Neuheisel got exactly what he deserved.

I'm laughing at these people getting all butt-hurt over the play ending in a TD.  I'm guessing a 15-yard throw would have been more classy?  At the end of the day, there is no excuse for letting a hobbled Damian Williams straight moss your secondary on a basic post-route.

• Moving onto recruiting, the big news from the game was Tony Jefferson sporting SC gear and jawing at UCLA players during the pseudo-brawl.  No surprise that Tony decided to decommit today.  He provided some interesting quotes with the news:

Recruiting: Breaking Down the Official Visit List for USC-UCLA

Kyle Prater

The official visit list:

• Kyle Prater, WR (Hillside, IL)
  Ranking:  5-Star, #2 Overall, #1 WR
  Status:  Committed
  - SC will try to seal the deal on Kyle who is expected to be a December graduate and early enrollee. The recruiting battle has come down to SC and ND.  This is the perfect opportunity to lock-in Kyle's commitment with all the turmoil in South Bend.

• Jackson Jeffcoat, DE (Plano, TX)
  Ranking:  5-Star, #6 Overall, #1 DE
  Status:  Texas, USC, Houston
  - Looks like Texas leads this battle with Houston as the dark-horse pick due to Jackson's dad being on the coaching staff.  SC still has a real shot at landing Jackson.  The coaches can sell the early playing time here at the strong-side spot with Armond Armstead flipping between SDE and DT (true position). 

• Dillon Baxter, WR/RB (San Diego, CA)
  Ranking:  4-Star, #26 Overall, #1 All-Purpose RB
  Status:  Committed
  - Dillon has stayed solid through his commitment but recently took an official visit to Michigan where he was guaranteed early playing time.  Still looks like Dillon is firmly committed.  SC has the wildcat formation ready to go for next year.

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.

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.

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.