USC’s had three players decommit in recent days: Linebacker Daniel Green, cornerback Wylan Free and defensive tackle James Lynch. They were all three stars and not exactly offered by college football’s marquee programs.
Perhaps an eight-game winning streak and Rose Bowl appearance increased the need for more scholarships. But why did USC take these players in the first place?
And if you are going to say it was smart of USC to drop the three-star prospects now, you probably were also cheering when these originally committed. Perhaps it shows Clay Helton can be a little more ruthless than he appears.
No idea bout that ‘but’ the main pedestrian entrance on Jefferson is ‘blocked’ for renovation. For us old timers that ‘Tams Bookstore and Silverwoods bldg.’ is gone. They have this huge honking bldg. directly south of Cromwell and west of the Annenberg Bldg.. The Village still looks like 4 – 6 mos. away from completion.
As to recruits bailing out well who knows? Bet it reverses fast if USC defeats PA St. three weeks from tomorrow.
Well? When a team starts a football season with a 1-3 record and wins eight straight thereafter, a lot of things change, including the quality of recruits. While more stars in the ratings don’t absolutely promise total successes, they still look good on paper and for prestige of the program. So it has very little to do with Helton being ruthless or not. In fact, it’s only natural and logical.
So when kids dropped us at the last minute like the Black Mamba you didn’t rage about people not keeping their word and hold that against them? I don’t want to hear anyone complain when our “commits” go on trips to other schools since the word commit means nothing until LOI morning when the fax comes in signed. They should change the word “commit” to the more accurate “lean” since neither side is truly committed to one another.
Committed only seems to mean, this is my number 1 choice today.
Yet for many recruits, a commitment is a very solid bond. They’ll never ditch unless forced.
Great point, partner!
Yup. Manti Teo and Vontaze Burfict come
To mind. Forgot Jalen Ramsey
Sounds like new silent commits at those positions.
We can hope that is the case.
Of course it is – SC is on fire right now – hope we can find somebody who can slide into Sams shoes because the way I see it, it all pretty much revolves around Sam and his abilities – it affects the entire team from top to bottom
As bad as this blog has been lately, this thread is a breath of fresh air.
Sometimes you have to be ruthless, especially if you’re in Clay Helton’s position. He should have had that attitude when he named his starting quarterback prior to the Alabama game . We need 4&5 stars on the line of scrimmage, so Helton’s going to do what he has to do
Is this assumption, fact, or opinion? I know recruits do these things all the time…are the Trojans allowed to offer,retract,offer,retract at will???
How long have you been blogging/beat writer for the LADN ?
It’s like this every year, recruits are not bound to these schools until LOI’s are signed on Ntl Signing Day and of course they will keep their options open as do the schools recruiting them or others.
Several inbound kids who were early commits and then backed out, liken to Bolden and Graham are back in thd fold, they are not committed as of yet but are favoring USC while looking at others.
The process will play out accordingly, there will more and likely be others decommitting from USC. NOW that USC is trending upwards, kids want in, Helton and his staff are doing a great job in reloading areas of need, if not this year, then next. The big picture is painted.. And the kids see it!
USC is back to being a force on the recruiting trail.
Fight On!
I have an autographed photo of the “Bush Push” with Leinart and Reggie, and I looked at it and F’n Scott Wolf is the most prominent figure staring like he’s bored out of his mind on the freaking field. Everyone else’s face in the photo looks like they’re losing their minds, but Scott is just there like he’s waiting to be called at the dentist office. Totally ruined the pic. Anyway, he’s been around for a long time.
LSU still has Lane Kiffin as the top candidate for their new OC.
Yep.. I think he lands there!
USC is the hottest thing going right now in college football, regardless of not being in the playoffs. So does anyone actually think they won’t have a top 5 class on signing day ?
After the Washington game ,our recruiters and coaches phones blew up.Calls were being returned that had been ignored.To the staffs credit.They have stayed in touch even when the recruit wasn’t interested.Now like 17 year olds,they now call us….The decommits have been given the advantage,having a USC offer.They have been given the word to look around,others schools give them a strong look,Ends being win win .
Charlie Charlie Charlie.. Lol..We were right Hired by USF.
Oh really???? I can’t imagine Harbaugh being dictated to by Les Snead, because he knows more football then Snead could ever imagine. But nevertheless, I would love for that to happen. And Charlie Strong is a proven winner, so the school had to hire him over the unproven, Lane Kiffin . Strong is a fantastic coach, regardless of his stint at Texas, because it was difficult to clean up that crap that Mack Brown left behind
Strong was paid obscenely well to fix recruiting magnet TEXAS and he flopped horribly. Fixing programs is why people are usually hired.
Fortunately for Strong, he doesn’t need to fix USF and is inheriting a possible 11-win club. Now, if he can just keep that vaunted KU Jayhawk team off his schedule, he might succeed at a place that already has the 2nd ranked offense in the entire country and just needs defensive help – Charlie’s bailiwick.
Good landing point for Charlie who has strong Florida ties. It’s much more his speed as he starts the season with San Jose State (still no takers for HC) and the Stony Brook Sea Wolves.
I think San Jose State hired somebody that was on Mike MacIntyer’s staff when he was there
Also, when Strong was at Louisville, he had Teddy Bridgewater. Wonder how he would have done WITHOUT him?
How can any coach win without their starting quarterback ? Jim Mora, and Clay Helton are perfect examples, so I know what you mean . I wonder what Bobby Pertrino would do without Larmar Jackson?
Now that’s funny, Strong is a joke
not to mention he had no booster support.
0-2 vs Urban Meyer.
i wish harbaugh WOULD coach the rams
I sure hope so. I think they will have a top 10 class. I’m so glad Helton is working out. Another HC change would not have been the best.
I’m glad someone realizes that.
It will be the two hottest teams in College Football (besides Alabama) playing in the Rose Bowl. SC with an 8 game winning streak and Penn State with a 9 game winning streak.
I think Clay Helton told them early so they could find a new home. He is integrous if anything.
It happens every year. You take less talented kids and drop them for more talented kids. SC is winning on talent (and the lack thereof in the PAC 11). We just played the best players and simplified, and that always will leave SC competing for the top. Brilliant coaching is great if you can get it (we passed it up) but SC gets top players, and just needs stability and competence. CLK and Sark used to get in their own way and they screwed up. I don’t think we have a brilliant coach by far (it’s shown in many areas) but we have leadership and will still get the best talent and be competing for a long time.
With Scout going BK, can Rivals and all the rest be far behind ? One can only hope
Helton better get some beef or it won’t matter. Top 5, top 10, it’s about recruiting to what you need, not amassing a bunch of 5 star WR’s ( or 9 RB’s as PC did at the end of his stay ) and no one to block for the QB or RB and no one to stop the QB or RB on the D side of the ball
Exactly!!
build that line if you want to lift that trophy!
Nothing wrong with taking good 3-star prospects – unless 4/5-star guys start coming your way. USC is open for business again as the west coast Rose Bowl rep and recruiting is a down-n-dirty free-for-all until LOI Day. Bring in the Big Uglies and we’ll be great again.
I think its fair game for schools and kids to change their minds. A school just has to becareful it doesn’t become their reputation to drop kids all the time. I’m sure high school coaches will remember and not recommend their players to sign up for schools (more like head coaches than the schools) like that. I like it that the “purge” happened with plenty of time for the kids to find other universities to attend.
The whole reason we have a definitive LOI Day is so there’s this desired flexibility. Academics, injuries to both the team and the recruit, new interest from other players, shakiness from a prospect, coaching changes, etc, all have major effects on what is by nature a very liquid situation.
What’s really tough is when a commitment or a school makes the drop very late and there’s no real time to fix it. Usually things have a way of working out, especially if the school and the prospect have been paying attention to the signals each has been giving for months.
You need to talk to Gerard Martinez… you’re a little in the dark about how recruiting works.
SW doesn’t even get Recruiting 101 and it’s not very complicated. All sales, management and image.
SW’s just embarrassed that USC is ditching all these 3-star guys and SW was always critical of USC taking them in the first place. He doesn’t like giving USC any credit and now he’s stuck.
Exactly – “what’s with all these 3 stars?? Are we settling?”…. 2 moths later, “The sky is falling – why are we deserting all these wonderful 3 stars?? Helton is an unfeeling monster!” Lol.
It’s like being a blogger, and taking a single published report and declaring in a headline, “Lane Kiffin takes Houston job.” But the report is wrong … and now you’re wrong. Got to be flexible.
The Hillary loving USA Today is publishing fake news?
If they decommited doesn’t that mean they chose to go somewhere else. If they got dropped or had their offers pulled by Helton then I’d say Helton is a ruthless aggressor. But I really don’t think I’ll ever say that.
As many have said, nothing new here. A verbal from a player has become meaningless and a school’s offer prior to signing day is now just a bit more than meaningless. Coaches who care will not (or very rarely) outright revoke an offer to a kid or has verbally committed, but they will send a message in many different ways. Some subtle (like not staying in touch) and some not so subtle (like suggesting he will be buried on the depth chart). A sharp kid will decommit (which no one views negatively anymore) and find somewhere that provides a better fit/opportunity. Sort of like “you can’t fire me I quit.”
PS, schools no longer have any respect for a verbal commitment to another program and will continue to pursue a player committed elsewhere. Decommitting used to truly re-open recruiting, but now it never stops anyway.
Daniel Green will go to Oregon. Lynch to TCU. They will bounce back and find a home.
OT –
Jeff Fisher’s Rams are the worst team in the NFL. Atlanta, starting on defense, scored a TD in the first 10 seconds. Thank God Fisher never coached USC as so many wanted. He’s very weak and hasn’t a clue about offense – a true dinosaur.
Rams are losing their L.A. audience fast. They need a new HC and personnel man.
Bruce Mathews left a big thank you sign in the USC Locker room for the OLine that said “kick Penn States a**!”
Cool. We owe an awfully lot to the Matthews family. Can’t think of any other like them for the Trojans. Just too much.
Fisher is gone. He was gone already but he sure made a bad move by going at Erick Dickerson.
Fisher was in a tough spot. Dickerson basically called him incompetent, then wanted to hang around the team all the time. Not sure how you handle that but when it rains, it sometimes pours.
Good point. I’m not a Rams fan but they need a new head coach. Fishers really never won in Tennessee and he hasn’t been able to get it done with the Rams.
Perhaps these three kids didn’t develop (athletically and/or academically) as much as the coaches thought they would. Its good for them to know now so they can find schools that are better fit for them. It becomes a problem when either kid drops a school or vice versa in February.
I hope the kids find a great place for their education and for USC to get quality replacements.
“Ruthless” is inappropriate. You have earned am resounding “F”, Wolfie, in responsible Journalist circles and classrooms.
I don’t think that it’s ruthless at all. If the players can de-commit from the schools(sometimes at the last second), why can’t the schools de-commit from the players. Schools like Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee and all the big schools offer over 200 scholarships a year. They can only take 25 so surely those players must know that just because they commit doesn’t necessarily mean that they will get a scholarship.
No Scott, we were not cheering when Helton was recruiting 3-star athletes. We were affronted Helton was belittling the program this way. Now that Helton has gotten wise (and more confident obviously) he needs to put on a hard butt-kicking show in the Rose Bowl (meaning don’t create an atmosphere that this is just a reward and have a party on the sidelines and get your butt beat, which Penn St. will do to you if you don’t prepare for them honestly. A lot is riding on this game for Calif-kids who still look at USC as a premier program. If helton wants to make recruiting easier for himself and his staff, USC needs to win the Rose Bowl!
is it a gamble, or does clay know something? i think there are going to be some big surprises on signing day, especially if they beat penn state convincingly