Surveying the damage

Coffee much?

The class is near perfect. Losing Nottingham stung but lucky for us the top 2 QBs on our roster are only in their second years of eligibility so it wasn't a DIRE need to get him.

The down side is that next year's QB crop doesn't look to be too outstanding so far so getting a top guy will be crucial.

Losing Heimili was a head scratcher but, again, while DT was a major position of need for us, all signs point to him playing one year and then leaving on an LDS mission. How much value were we really going to get out of him in his freshman season before having to re-recruit him in a few years?

Everything else was a home run! Zumwalt and Shirley more than make up for the Pullard flip and we gave SC a few punches in the gut.

They can crow all they want about their highly ranked class but over a THIRD of their commits are stacked at two positions. They can't play all of those WRs and TEs at the same time so what's the real value of all those stars if only half of them get on the field?

Sensational signing day for UCLA...now let's go prove it on the field!

No worries, we know we'll get Jerry Neuheisel next year for sure!

Overall you cant complain with a top ten class. Although it would have been nice to get Heimuli, I am not to bummed about it assuming he goes on his mission. Cause if he leaves after next year we are in the same place we are now. I would rather get Sealii more reps and a chance to develop at a faster rate since he presumably be around for at least the next three years. But good class, picked up some studs all over the field. Lets just hope that paul richardson pans out or else it will be a class without a WR.

Nottingham screwed us late in the game so we didn't have time to recover but we have three scholarship QBs on board plus a couple of servicable walk-ons so we're not in that bad shape...it would have been nice to have Heimuli for a year but I hope that Hasiak is re-instated...even thst $UC picked up Henderson at the end, it all becomes a moot point when the sanctions are handed down over at High School with Ashtrays since I'm hearing it will be worse than what Lane Violation was selling the recruits...

Jon,

Thanks for all your hard work yesterday bringing us recruiting updates all day long. My only complaint is that after bringing in a top-10 recruiting class yesterday, your headline this morning is "Surveying the Damage"?

Keep up the great work.
Go Bruins!

John - Thank you for the great job you do. Awesome!

Great work by CRN, NC, CB, and the rest of the staff for netting a top 10 class as ranked by ESPN, Rivals, and Scout. Of course it would be nice to have picked up Nottingham and Heimuli, but there is always some damage to be sustained in the recruiting wars.

Thanks for all of your work the past few weeks Jon...between recruiting news and keeping tabs on hoops, you've had your work cut out for you.

Anyone else get a cheap laugh out of LK's utterance yesterday..."I guess we waste time continuing to recruit them. We know within the first 10 minutes whether they're the type of guys that want to play here or there."...so I guess if they are the type of guys that like free rent, parking Range Rovers by the practice fields, and obnoxious alums, then SC is the place for them. I love it that he's already pandering to the $C fan base that consists of the lowest common denominator of sports fans in the SoCal region. Stay classy Lane and Slime On!

The signing of Owa and Shirley helped reduce the sting of loosing Heimuli and Pullard flips.

you have consider the transfers Smith and Fauria being able to play this year also..

I was never sold on Nottingham to begin with, seems like we took him more out of need than anything else. I could be wrong!

If I were Neu I would be looking at schools with a log jam at the QB position and keep an eye out for transfers...ala Troy Aikman.

This class of defensive players will be DOMINANT in 2 years! With Prince/Brehaut, the O-line with one more year of experience- along with the young rb's and wr's maturing I truly expect the Bruins to compete for a BCS bid in 2011.

GO BRUINS!!!! fU$C!

Appreciate the work you did Jon. It was fun keeping up with all of the developments from yesterday.

Overall I am pretty happy with this class. Losing out on Hemuli and Nottingham was unfortunate, but we were still able to finish strong with this class. Other than DT, I think we are in pretty good shape at the other positions. We seem to have adequate depth on both sides of the ball, with a lot of players returning from last year.

Again, thanks for the coverage, and I can't wait for the next football season!

Bulletin Board Material? Per LAT:

But in perhaps his first controversial comments since he got hired, Kiffin said, "I've been gone three years but much hasn't changed.

"As you meet the kids ... I was reminded of the kids that go to UCLA and the kids that come to USC, and to be back here, I watched it over the weekend just to see if it's the same and it's really still the same.

"I guess we waste time continuing to recruit them, we know within the first 10 minutes whether they're the type of guy that want to play here or there. Within the first five minutes of meeting them, you know who is going there and who is coming here, and I think we're competitive so we waste our time anyway."

In case anyone wondered what Kiffin meant, he followed up by saying the players USC signed, "want to come play with the best, guys that aren't worried about depth charts or playing time."

"A number of these guys we signed, they say the same thing, `Coach, we went to the All-Star Game. We want our practice field to be like that. We want to be around the best."

One thing he fails to address is the fact that the players he signed were probably just dumb enough to send an LOI to a school with NCAA sanctions looming overhead. I'm surprised that he signed any players at all yesterday given that they have until April 1st to send in their LOI's and that SUC's meeting with the NCAA is only 2 weeks away. Their prized recruit, Seantrel Henderson, seems to be the only one who did the right thing and wait to see what happens before he sends his LOI.

Thanks, Jon, for working your tail off for us fans. We do deeply appreciate it. Yeah, it's your job. However, some of your colleagues in L.A. (other sports journalists) seemed to be napping a lot yesterday.

Three top ten classes in a row.... When was the last time UCLA pulled that off in football?!

Any chance that Julious Moore can make up the grades and grey shirt or is he completely out of the picture?

a few guys to fight for time with X and Stan (assuming he comes back) would have been nice. Not too late to get after Henderson, but I doubt he wants to go up against Owa in practice again.

Biggest needs, imo, were DT and OL, in that order. We got a lot of depth at DT and maybe some help for this upcoming season in particular. OL will be ok for a year or two if there are no injuries (yeah, right) and this needs to be the focus for next year. QB isn't a big need yet, but it would have been nice to redshirt Brehaut last year. Losing Nottingham will sting if he turns out to be the real deal at Stanford and we don't land a good one next year. There were more flip flops this year than I can remember in the past, especially with "locks" going different directions and commits going to schools that weren't even considered to be on the final list. Overall, though, I think this is a really solid class. Would have been better with another big DT (Heimuli or Uko) or OL (di Paolu). IF we get OL, DT, QB next year we will be in a great position with the program. How do I feel overall...I just put in my deposit on season tickets and I don't live in the LA area. We'll see how many games I can actually attend, but I know where I'll be on Dec. 4.

Keep praying for sanctions bRuins - if you can't beat on on the field, or court, might as well hope for NCAA sanctions. Its not going to happen, sorry. A slap on the wrist at best, and then what will you bRuin fans do? Cry? Another season like last year and CRN will be on the hot seat, or is mediocre okay for bRuin football? Was that an eight clap or did someone pass gas?

We didn't even finish in the top 25, yet we got a top 10 recruiting class. That is a GREAT day.