Answer Tuesday! (Part 3)

Q: sureshot said:
The story is out about how Josh Shirley intentionally deceived the USC staff into thinking he was coming to SC while maintaining a silent commitment to UCLA. That being the case, do you think there will be extra motivation from this staff to embarrass Shirley on the field? (i.e. crack back blocks, intentional running back coverage mismatches thrown his way, etc)

A: There are always stories about guys being targeted for comments or behavior but once a game begins, people forget that and just play the game. An exception is if a quarterback or tailback is hurt, then teams will try to knock them out of the game.
There is also the example of Mark Sanchez against UCLA in 2008. The Bruins did try to knock him out of the game and received some personal foul penalties in the process. But that was because Sanchez was so valuable to the team, not for anything he said.

Q:The Promenade said:
You said Lane Kiffen and Ed Orgeron were mostly recruiting players from the South but once signing day was over, there were practically no Southern players signed whatsoever. What's up with that?

A: They threw a wide net out there with more than 50 offers to recruits and just hoped something would stick. They managed to get Glen Stanley, who is originally from Florida. And of course Markeith Ambles, but he wanted to come to USC anyways. It's tough to get kids from the South (outside Florida and maybe Georgia) and I suspect they will readjust the areas they recruit for next season. The big focus, of course, will be on Southern California.

Q: Ryan said:
Scott,

Who do you consider to be USC biggest recruiting busts?

PS Thanks for all the great coverage over the past couple of crazy weeks.

A: If you mean since I covered USC, it would be Whitney Lewis or Stan Guyness, both wide receivers by coincidence. If you mean from this class, ask me again in the next forum.