Answers, Part VIII

Which recruit will make an impact next season?

Q: What is the “USC walk-on tape” that you say Rick Neuheisel is pushing to recruits?

A: I posted it on this site Monday if you have not yet viewed it.

Q: Which will happen first?
1) Another UCLA quarterback will blow out a body part before the 2008 season even begins.
2) Rick Neuheisel wins the California Lottery Big Spin and steps down as UCLA coach, then starts his own online handicapping service.
3) UCLA hires the construction crew that built the Green Monster in Fenway Park to put a 30-foot extension atop the wall surrounding its football practice field.
4) Norm Chow, realizing the talent level is so low on the current roster, starts a bonfire at UCLA’s first football pep rally next season by taking a match to his famed playbook.
5) Rick Neuheisel plants a mole in the next group of walk-on tryouts at USC, but the mole is found out and squeals like a gutless little bruin always does. The USC coaches take pity on him and let him go without punishment after the gutless little bruin soils himself, and it is caught on videotape.

A:) 4

Q: Of the new guys coming in from this year’s class, in your mind, who is the most important for the team in terms of developing fast/early and contributing right away?

A) This is an interesting question because I’m not sure right now there is a recruit that USC really needs to rely on for next season. Blake Ayles is going to be needed at tight end but Anthony McCoy can play that position, so Ayles is more of a glamour pickup, who can be used as an H-back. Cornerback T.J. Bryant could be extremely important because he is the fifth corner and if Kevin Thomas, Josh Pinkard, Cary Harris or Shareece Wright (who all had injuries at some point) start getting hurt, Bryant might move into the nickel defense. At least on paper, there seem to be a lot of redshirt candidates with 10 linemen.