More Recruiting
We mentioned in a story two weeks ago how one reason for USC's dropoff the past couple years was recruiting evaluation. In Pete Carroll's first six years, he had Ed Orgeron and Lane Kiffin as recruiting coordinators to hold him in check or stand up to him regarding recruits.
An example is Stanford defensive linemen Sione Fua who went to three straight summer camps at USC but never got offered a scholarship. A few weeks ago, he gave USC problems in the Cardinal's narrow victory over the Trojans.
As one high-ranking member of the athletic dept. says, ``we were just taking guys off recruiting lists.''
Funny story about Sione Fua. I was up north for the Stanford game, and his family had a stand set up right outside of the stadium, selling t-shirts with his name and number on them. I'm guessing it's an NCAA violation for a player's family to directly profit financially off of their son's college football career while he's still in that college, but since it's Stanford and not USC, the NCAA probably could not care less.
Typical of you, Scott. Stir the pot with no in-depth thinking. There are plenty of guys out there who could have contributed at USC ... but schools can sign a max of 25 at a time. The real question isn't who USC didn't offer, it's "Did they offer guys who turned out to be good?" Pete tried to sign guys like Burfict, Teo, Henderson, Jeffcoat, Powell, Cliff Harris, etc, etc. So, was he going after stiffs, or was it a matter of losing out on their signatures? Also, on a percentage basis, did Pete sign many stiffs the past couple of years ... or are most of them actually good players? You make it sound like he went after the wrong recruits and signed a bunch of bums. Not quite true. His mix could have been better, but that's not a matter of recruiting lists; that's strategy.
@ KingOfLA: Very interesting indeed.
every high school kid knows that you can be a 5* superstud and never see the field at USC
If you were a great high school player, would you rather sign with USC and maybe get on the field your junior or senior years OR sign with another team and be a starter for 3-4 seasons?
Bottom line is -- you gotta play to get drafted by the nfl -- and the kids know that
-----------------
another side to it is: are they developing players?
Barkley looks better, but Gallipo, McKnight, Mays, and others didn't seem to improve much over the talent that they brought with them to USC
Oregon developed Jamere Holland --> he came in as a headcase and left as a headcase who learned how to twitter
Oregon players suck....
Trojan fans would prefer reading a recruiting website that has the blog for one of the worst play by play announcers ever....
"Bottom line is -- you gotta play to get drafted by the nfl -- and the kids know that"
Matt Cassell just called, and he disagrees with you.
Flyerz, PC only had one class of 25 or more in his 8 years, so the point is valid.
Toejam Rehash - And exactly what makes you any smarter? Certainly not your adroit writing. Clearly not your rapier sharp wit. Definitely not that insipid handle.