Caesar Speaks

The recruiting season as it ends here on signing day, it’s a long haul with a lot of work done by the coaches and by the families and the kids themselves to get to this point to make these decisions. It’s been a really exciting year for us in recruiting. This is a little bit different year than we’ve had and it was really necessary for us to address these roster issues and we had to load up on a couple spots. You will see by the numbers how evident it is by the 10 linemen that we’ve taken in this class.

It’s an exciting group of guys. It’s a championship class again. We think of this class as a big class because of all the big guys involved in it. Things went well. I know there’s a lot of talk with these classes and you can’t really evaluate those classes until you’re done and they start playing for you and see how it all fits together. It’s just a very loyal group and we’ve had a bunch of these guys in our sights for a long time. We’ve known a lot of these local guys in Southern California as they’ve grown up and their senior and junior years, so we feel very solid and secure with the guys that are coming in.

We had big losses on the defensive line this year, losing Lawrence Jackson and Sedrick Ellis and Alex Morrow, who have all done a lot of playing for us. With that thought, we wanted to hit it big and get it across the board, and we brought in three defensive ends and two defensive tackles. I think it’s critical that we develop these kids and bring them along to be ready to play.

Before I start on the individual guys, let me say, it’s really helpful for us that we always bring in guys that have the mindset that they’re coming here to play. Our approach to recruiting has always been very simple, that freshmen come here with the thought that they’re going to play and try to find a way to fit in and find a way for them to add to a championship effort and until it doesn’t make sense to us, we are going to continue to feel that way and think that way and direct the kids in that fashion. These kids are coming here trying to find a way to get on the field. Over the years, we’ve had over half of our guys in the freshman class in their first semester contribute in big ways. Guys have started in just about every position. We’ve had a very big success story in the fact that those guys have been part of it.

Let’s start in the inside. Armond Armstead is a kid that is a tremendous kid. He’s probably the biggest defensive lineman we’ve brought in in years. He’s going to play the three technique. First start him in the inside and see how he fits in the other spots and move him around to test it out. This is a very talented kid who plays football very well, very much so in his last two years. When we had him in camp, we really fell in love with him and his intensity. He came back-to-back days to make sure that he made an impression. We were impressed with that. He is also a very good basketball player. He scores a lot of points on a very successful basketball team. He’s been playing hoops all his life so he’s got good foot quickness.

The other defensive tackle is Jurrell Casey from Long Beach Poly. We’ve seen him play for years. He played both ways, both as an offensive and defensive player. This is a guy that has always been known for his hitting and for chasing the football and making big plays on both sides of the ball. He has been featured as a defensive tackle, and we see him at the nose tackle spot. He’s following in the mold we’ve had with Mike Patterson and Sedrick Ellis. We can expect to have him contribute and play for us in his first year. We had him in camp as well and really loved him when he participated and competed there. He showed us a lot of good stuff.

The defensive ends, we looked to have two big kids play on the side to replace Lawrence Jackson and Alex Morrow. This is Wes Horton from Notre Dame High School and Malik Jackson from Birmingham. Both of these kids are 6-foot-5 plus and have a lot of range and pass rushing ability to them. They’re going to fill out into big kids for us.

The other defensive end that we have is really a special speed-rush guy. This guy, Nick Perry, from Detroit, is a guy that we really love. This is the kid that had 36 sacks this year. He led his team to their first-ever state championship. He’s just a phenomenal football player. He’s real fast. He’s a 4.5 guy at the Army combine, which is a tremendous time for this make-up, so we’re really thrilled about what he’s going to bring and what he’s going to add to the pass rush.

Staying with the linemen theme, on the other side of the ball. You’ve seen we’ve had a lot of guys move off the roster going into the NFL this year, so with that we’ve got a bunch of guys coming back there to compete for the spots but really these young guys are going to fit right into the middle of the competition. They’ve had a chance to see us practice. They’re looking for their opportunities. Most of these guys have played tackle and we’re going to move them around some and find the best spots.

Matt Kalil, little big brother of Ryan Kalil just a big, strong, tough kid we’ve seen for years. We’ve loved the way he plays. Great intensity. We think he’s truly a tackle but we’re going to see how he fits and see what works best for him. He plays very physical and very tough football.

The other guy who played tackle in high school is already in school, Matt Meyer. He came in early in the spring time. He went to high school up in Stockton. Big kid again. He’s about 6-6, 285, and he’s working out with our guys. He’s a really classy kid, a warm, bright kid who’s had a chance to graduate early and take advantage of the academic opportunity and take advantage of spring football. It’ll give him a real chance to compete for playing time.

We brought a real big kid who’s played guard and tackle and I think in time you’ll see him fit into a role. He’s Daniel Campbell from Houston, Texas. He’s a big, big kid. We’ve loved the way he plays when he was in camp in the summer time and he competed well and showed us all the things that we we’re looking for. So, we think that he comes in full-size. He’s over 300 pounds. He’s a big, big kid. Might have been in the range of a Deuce Lutui or John Drake kind of kid.

Tyron Smith is a true tackle. This is probably the best athlete that we’ve recruited in the years we’ve been here to play offensive tackle. He’s a very lean, fit, flexible, quick, strong, beautiful-looking kid. Great competitor. He did a really nice job and did a beautiful job playing on both sides of the football, but we’d love to see what he can do at tackle. He looks like a left tackle. Just in perfect form. He also competed in our camp.

You see we have a set theme. We’ve got a bunch of these guys that have played with us on the practice field, giving us a real chance to see these guys perform.

Another kid who played at Mater Dei is Khaled Holmes. His brother, Alex, played here. Khaled is a very gifted player who was asked to do a tremendous amount of pass blocking. He has had an opportunity to pull and block out in space and on the perimeter. We’d like to see him play guard, but he can play guard or tackle. He’s a really bright kid, a tremendous student. He’s just a fantastic prospect to get because of the familiarity he has and the coaching he’s had to compete and battle early. Again, a real big kid. He’s in the 285-pound range. He’s also been in the 300-pound range. We’ll see how it settles as we get to the summer time.

So that’s a real big group. That’s 10 kids, half the class.

Let’s stay on the offensive side of the ball with a tight end prospect that we’ve seen, Blake Ayles, who will is just a tremendous athlete, an all-around athlete. He gets down the field. He’s got really good speed. He’s got tremendous catching ability. He’s been on a wide open offense that’s showed him everything we ask our tight ends to do. We’ve just been thrilled to see him in the process, hoping that it makes sense that this was the right place for him. I think as he watched Fred Davis, who had a very big role in our system this year, it just made perfect sense for him to come to USC. He’s also a tremendous track competitor. He throws the discus and just has a really all-around ability. We’ll look for him to be a guy that can stretch the field and get down there and make plays for us. We’ll look to see how he fits into the offense right from the beginning.

The other offensive player that we have other than receivers is a really exciting player, Curtis McNeal from Venice High School. It’s a kid that I saw on film two years ago when he scored 42 touchdowns as a junior and 36 this year. Just a phenomenally productive kid. Can run and catch and do all the stuff that you want. He’s a smaller kid with great quickness and explosiveness. He’s a great corner as well, so this is a really exciting guy. We see him in the role that we put Desmond Reed in right off the bat and being able to move him around and get him on the edge and involved in the kicking game and really give us some sparks. I think we’ll find that he’s a very exciting football player with the running backs that we took last year and we’ll loop around and next year will be an important year for us and will keep the flow going here. He’s really the only guy we’re expecting to come out of the backfield for us in this recruiting class.

The final part of this group on offense is the wide receivers. D.J. Shoemate from Servite High School has been a kid that we picked up early on. He was a fantastic player as a sophomore. We found him very early and offered him early. We fell in love with his versatility and ability to do a lot of things. Tremendous catcher. Tremendous run-after-the-catch guy. Also played in the backfield a lot for them. He has the versatility to be a receiver and a running back and that’s a nice mix for us. You know how we like to use our guys in expanded roles and there’s no question that D.J. can do all of that stuff. He’s got great strength to him. He’s a 215-pound kid. He’s been heavier than that at times. He can catch the ball over the middle and over the crowd and make tough plays. He’s a great defensive player as well, but we see him as a wide receiver and a guy we’re really excited about being able to do some special things with him. We’re always looking for kids with special dimensions to them, and certainly D.J. is a leader and a competitor.

A kid we took from out of the area from Atlanta, Brice Butler is a fantastic receiver. This is the guy that we thought was the best route runner we’ve seen in a couple of years. Really proficient, a change-of-direction kid. He gets out of his breaks. He’s a really accomplished guy for a high school kid. His dad played in the NFL years, Bobby Butler was a defensive back for years. He’s been running around with his dad in the backyard for years. They have brought us a really exciting receiver. He’s a big play guy. Can make great catches, has a great catching range. He makes plays off his feet into the air and the low balls and all that kind of stuff comes very natural to him. He’s really been an exciting prospect for us. We’re excited for him to come across the country to come play for us.

On the defensive side of the ball, to finish up we have two linebackers that are extraordinary players. The first one from Dominguez High School, Maurice Simmons, is again another family relation. His brother, Melvin Simmons, played for us many years ago. He’s had a tremendous career at Dominguez but was injured late in the season but is a very skilled football player in the mode of Keith Rivers. He’s fast, can chase the football, cover a lot of ground, a really athletic kid, great speed. We’re thrilled about Maurice coming in.

To finish up here we have another defensive back player. We’ve hit this really sweet on the backside of the ball. We have two corners and there are two safeties, one who just transferred, Shane Horton. He came in from UNLV. He’s from Notre Dame High School and is joining his brother Wes. This is a very good football player and a guy that we missed on the way coming out of high school, but we had a chance because he sought us out to transfer and we’re really thrilled about him to give us depth and insight in the back as a safety player. He’s plays with a Kevin Ellison style. We’ve already seen him on film and we’re really pleased to have him join us.

A kid from Northern California (Drew McAllister), the best player in the East Bay, was a quarterback and had a big career for a good team and made so many things happen on the football field. When we had him down at camp here he played at safety for us. We just fell in love with the kid. Big strong safety. Runs really well. He’s a track guy. He ran a 10.8 as a junior. Physical kid. He brings you all of the awareness that comes with an all-around athlete and a quarterback. Being a safety and quarterback seems to go together. This is one of those guys who is really an exciting football player and a very good student and a basketball player. He’s a really exciting kid for us.

Two corners we brought in. Brian Baucham is a kid that we saw as just a tremendous offensive player in high school. Could play on kick returns and all that from West Torrance High School. Just a phenomenal highlight reel. We knew of him, but he got hurt in his senior year, but we got so excited about his all-around athletic ability, so we’re bringing him in to play corner for us. He’s a track guy with great speed and athletic ability. We’re really thrilled about him.

I think one of the great recruiting accomplishments for us is T.J. Bryant. He’s a guy that we recruited from Lincoln High School in Tallahassee. We’ve been through there in years past and kind of knew our way around. We saw T.J. growing up in their program. This is an incredibly gifted corner. This is a guy that has been raised as a corner. He played some wide receiver, but really wanted to be a corner early in his career. He has all of the natural abilities, all of movement, all of the skill to make interceptions and making big plays as well as return abilities that you could want. He’s an extremely gifted football player. He saw this opportunity as something very unique and special and his family backed him up on it. We’re proud to go into northern Florida and get a kid excited about USC. This is a tremendous accomplishment in our recruiting. We’re really excited about T.J.

All of these kids are getting a great chance to start right off the bat, running against the first group, working with the best players. We expect to see these guys championing the cause, and taking advantage of this.

It’s great class. Guys that are going to excel in the classroom. Guys that are going to come in here to try to make a spot for themselves right off the bat. Part of the active competition. We’re really pleased about it.

Uona Kaveinga is a physical, tough, competitive linebacker. He plays in the same manner as Lofa Tatupu, physical and all over the field. He makes a bunch of plays. He’ll be a great special teams player, too. He’s a serious competitor. I love his attitude and the toughness he brings.