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Remember on Signing Day in 2010 when Lane Kiffin said he knew right away if a recruit was a USC or UCLA player? Well, Monrovia defensive end Ellis McCarthy apparently does not fit that profile because he decommitted from Cal and switched to UCLA last night and USC is still recruiting him.
Would he amazingly make a second switch in college choices? Who knows but former USC assistant Demetrice Martin (one of Jim Mora’s first hires) went hard after McCarthy as soon as he got hired.

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  • Trojan Conquest

    If you are a player that is afraid of getting lost in the competition, then USC isn’t right for you.

  • Son of CharIie Bucket

    Sugar Sweeeet scooooopin’, wolfman!!!!

    and the “hits” just keep oooooooooooon comin’!!!!

    what a GREAT time to be a BRUIN!!!!

    we are football Champeeens, we OWN the city in basketball, we’re getting the recruits…..i feel so ALIVE!!! (and tingly).

  • NOBS

    TC, right on. Fight On! At least he’ll get to start at Fucla. He can always transfer to the Mighty Mites in Pop Warner.

  • gilligan

    Scott you forgot to mention that Coach Martin and the Elder McCarthy have known each other since high school and Mr. McCarthy is also a UCLA alum.
    I don’t think McCarthy is heading to USC and I am crossing my fingers that one or two of the state D-line recruits commit.

  • spedjones

    Love that Wolfie asks “who knows…?” Well, I know. And Ellis will not be flipping to SC. I told you he would be a bruin weeks ago. SC never had a chance.

    And let’s not be naive. It’s not because he didn’t want to compete. It’s not that he didn’t want the pressure. It’s because his family HATES SC, including Lane and Ed O.

    If I’m a Trojan, I’m starting to worry that the top recruits in LA aren’t picking SUC anymore. Last year DAT, this year Ellis. A ship sinks slowly and sometimes you don’t even know you’re sinking until it’s too late!

    Scholly Reduction ON!

  • USC owns the Rose Bowl

    @spedjones:
    Enjoy watching USC be a powerhouse again this season while UCLA struggles to be relevant in it’s own conference. Rose Bowl… national title… BCS bowl… All-Americans… Heisman… 1st round NFL draft… all things USC will see next season. What about Fucla? LOL……
    AT LEAST you have McCarthie and Huntley, your SAVIORS!
    LMAO
    Optimism on though! and Mediocre On anyway…

  • spedjones

    and BTW, anyone wondering if McCarthy is legit (you know the Trogan fans will immediately say he’s no good now that SC’s out), just ask Jordan Simmons…

  • spedjones

    Per Biggins via ESPN:
    It definitely was a rough day for the Cal Bears.

    Not only did they lose their defensive line coach and best recruiter, Tosh Lupoi, they lost one of their top recruits as well when defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy flipped from the Bears to UCLA Monday night.

    Ed McCarthy, father of Ellis, responded via text with a simple, Yes, Ellis committed to UCLA tonight, when questioned about the rumored switch.

    Ed McCarthy later talked about the decision to ESPNLA.com’s Sean Ceglinsky.

    Coach Jim Mora came to UCLA and started doing all the right things, hiring all the right people, that’s what made the decision to commit to the Bruins easy for Ellis,” Ed McCarthy said.

    We’re happy he is staying close to home, we get to see him play in college. As a family, we always wanted him to go to UCLA. Once he wanted to go there, things fell into place.”

    A lot of people anticipated McCarthys commitment to Cal being one to watch, but few could have guessed he would switch just two weeks after giving it.

    Many recruiting fans will try and connect the dots and say McCarthy switching his commitment to UCLA is all about Lupoi leaving for Washington.

    That would be inaccurate.

    The truth is, even before McCarthy committed to the Bears at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the feeling from talking to those close to the lineman was that he would end up at UCLA.

    McCarthy was an early USC lean and had a strong relationship with Trojan assistant coach Ed Orgeron. While it seemed USC was in the drivers seat, behind the scenes, there were some in the McCarthy family that werent excited about the idea of him playing for the Trojans.

    McCarthys father, a strong UCLA supporter, had been pushing the Bruins hard, but it wasnt until Rick Neuheisel was fired and a new staff was brought in, that McCarthy gave the Bruins much of a look at all.

    McCarthy took an unofficial visit to UCLA in early December to meet Jim Mora and a few other members of the Bruins staff. The visit went well and McCarthy said he had a sincere interest in hearing more from the Bruins. This was after calling USC, Oregon and Cal his top three since the spring.

    Ed McCarthy, McCarthy’s father, had grown up with new Bruins DB coach Demetrice Martin. The two went to junior high school together and then rival high schools but still kept in close contact. Martin came in for a home visit with the family Monday night and before the night was over, he had landed the Bruins biggest commitment to date.

    McCarthy will take an official visit to UCLA this weekend. There are no plans to visit any other schools. Simply stated, this is a huge commitment for the Bruins at a major position of need. Not only will he have an opportunity to come in and play early as a true freshman, but his commitment could help UCLA lure a few other elite players to Westwood.

    McCarthy isnt the only big name visiting this weekend. There are several other top prospects planning to visit, including a handful that are currently committed elsewhere.

    As weird as it may sound, in recruiting, you can sometimes feel a momentum switch, similar to an actual game, and UCLA seems to have some momentum on its side. This weekend could be huge and define just what kind of recruiting class they sign come February.

  • sureshot

    spedjones if I’m ucla, I start worrying that 50-0 will become a trend. ucla has one, count them, one victory over USC in the past baker’s dozen years.

    In fact, since that “epic” 13-9 game, USC has beaten their “rivals” by 17, 21, 21, 14, and 50 points. Prior to that debacle of a game, USC beat ucla by 47, 5, 25, 31, 27, 3, and 10 points (moving backwards).

    The fact that ucla choked away their only opportunity to do anything on a national scale 14 years ago when they lost to Miami says it all. ucla is a basketball school first, second, and third. Sprinkle in softball and girls soccer, and you have the entire list of ucla athletics.

    Come back when ucla stops embarrassing the Pac-12 with their football team and we’ll talk.

  • FIGHTONtoVICTORY

    Haha another highly recruited player goes to UCLA to kill his career. You know its bad when the biggest victory for the bRuin football team is signing a recruit that USC was after. 50-0. 6-8.

  • mownyc

    Sped,

    You called it! Congrats! Genius!

  • ProbationU

    You guys should enjoy your 50-0 win. Huge win. We enjoyed our 8 in a row in the 90′s. You enjoy your win streak with ineligible players, players on steroids and a coach who is now in the NFL that can’t win when all the other teams have players getting paid. You have earned the right to celebrate. But as they say, all things come to an end and one day thisl too will end. And then it will be time for us Bruins to celebrate, just like we pounded you at the Galen Center the other night, not that you care, because you only care about football. Must SUC to be a Trojan the other 9 months of the year.

  • FIGHTONtoVICTORY

    What has UCLA done as of late? I dont understand why bRuins come to Wolf’s site when Gold is 100% better. I love the sweet taste of their tears of envy! Gotta love the “one day we will win, and we will celebrate!” hahahaha. Are you not embarrassed by saying that? The fact is, USC could drop this entire recruiting class, and only play 22 against fucla, and still get a victory. Mediocre on bRuins.

  • ProbationU

    What have we done lately? Pound your ass at Galen Sunday…that was lately.

  • http://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

    @Trojan Conquest, that is just simply stupid…and a phrase that is old, and a phrase used as a cop out. Top Recruits want to play immediately, it does not however mean that they will play “anywhere” especially a recruit like McCarthy. UCLA offers everything a recruit would want.

    The only reason UCLA does not get them all of the time is because of the tough admission standards UCLA has, which have been the reasons for recruits like Desean Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, DeAnthony thomas, and most recently the Florida transfer Shaw that USC signed, after he couldn’t get in at UCLA.

    So please stop with all your foolishness.

    UCLA 66 – USC 47

  • SoCal Native

    Hey, if the kid allows his family to pressure him into going to college somewhere and he relents, we are better off without him. We want players who can make up their own minds, know where they want to be and are excited to be the newest member of the Trojan Family.

  • mownyc

    Bru Rob,

    I posted this the other day. Looks like you might have missed it:

    http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20061210-9999-1s10specials.html

    “At the other end of the spectrum, according to the survey of 19 Western public institutions, were UCLA and San Diego State. Seventy percent of scholarship athletes at UCLA over the previous three years were special admits; for SDSU, that figure was 64.5 percent.

    By contrast, the percentage of special admits for the general student body is far lower: about 3 percent at UCLA and 20 percent at SDSU.

    In order to be competitive in Division I-A athletics, you’re going to have to have some flexibility compared to your normal admission policy, UCLA Assistant Vice Chancellor Tom Lifka said. We need those students if we’re going to be competitive in certain sports.

  • carlosb

    Well PUD, I have got to hand it to ya. After dozens of predictions over these past years you have finally come upon the cusp of hitting one! It’s looking like you may have your wildest dreams come true on LOI day.. Yeah I know, even a blind squirrel manages to find one of those elusive acorns from time to time… so, being true to my declaration…. get your damn sister ready to collect your reward… so that when McCarthy’s LOI finally comes to the bRUINS, I’ll let her service me as promised…
    so Congratulations (almost)PUD.. you may have finally actually hit one!
    Fight On

  • TrojanPete

    I really hope he’s going to UCLA because HE wants to go and not because of family pressure. Everything in sped’s post from ESPN indicates his father was the main decision maker or at least a huge driving force. We’ve seen this song and dance before and it doesn’t end well. For his sake, I hope he switched to UCLA because that’s where he wants to be.

  • USC owns the Rose Bowl

    Had to repost for bRuinRob and spudjones:
    sureshot said:
    spedjones if I’m ucla, I start worrying that 50-0 will become a trend. ucla has one, count them, one victory over USC in the past baker’s dozen years. In fact, since that “epic” 13-9 game, USC has beaten their “rivals” by 17, 21, 21, 14, and 50 points. Prior to that debacle of a game, USC beat ucla by 47, 5, 25, 31, 27, 3, and 10 points (moving backwards). The fact that ucla choked away their only opportunity to do anything on a national scale 14 years ago when they lost to Miami says it all. ucla is a basketball school first, second, and third. Sprinkle in softball and girls soccer, and you have the entire list of ucla athletics. Come back when ucla stops embarrassing the Pac-12 with their football team and we’ll talk.

  • NJ Trojan

    Assuming McCarthy follows through on his nonbinding commitment to attend UCLA, congratulations to the Bruins on landing their second 5-star recruit in the last ten years (as per Rivals). Yeap, Neuheisal was right, the monopoly is definitely over!

  • FIGHTONtoVICTORY

    The gap is closed.

  • http://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

    @trojanPets, if his family had anything to with McCarthy’s decision, he would have chosen UCLA in the first place.

  • spedjones

    Embarrasing as in playing in the first ever PAC 12 championship game or getting hit with the hardest cheating sanctions since SMU? Hmmmm.

  • carlosb

    PUD.. and you’re aching inside that you cannot be part of the gigantic greatness of USC.. Eat your heart out as you continuously grovel on our blog bitch!
    Fight On
    PS.. don’t forget to get those damn braces out of your sisters mouth by LOI day!

  • http://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

    @trojanPets, if his family had anything to with McCarthy’s decision, he would have chosen UCLA in the first place.