Answer Friday!
Time to resume answering questions, including one off topic.
Q: arlosb said:
Do you think that Omar Gonzales will (acl injury notwithstanding)ever become a world class center back and producer for our MNT? How severe will his loss be in CCL in early Mar. On the same track, will Donovan and Keane return for CCL quarters and the MLS opener or are their loans extensive? Finally Will/can Marcelo Sarvas adequately supplant Juninho? Thanks in advance for answering although this assessment query is off topic.
A: I think Gonzalez's injury will affect the U.S. national team and set back his development because he will need time to regain his fitness after he comes back. He is still young however (23) so he should be 100 percent upon his return. Sometimes players are slowed by ACL injuries but i think he will be fine. It's a big loss for the Galaxy. Donovan and Keane are on two-month loans, i believe, so they should be back for the start of the MLS season. Sarvas is an interersting signing because he was a key player in Alajuelense's CCL run and should be able to help the Galaxy there and in MLS games.
Q: I DIg Go Go Girls said:
Can you give us a breakdown on how the recruits are evaluated, what determines who recruits which kid, how much film is watched, if the kids backgrounds are checked out etc and how Kiffin and his staff are different than PC was in their recruiting methods and evaluation process.
A: The recruits get evaluated initially by an assistant coach and then by Kiffin. Eventually, te whole staff watches film on the prospect. Each assistant has a geographical area but this can be modified if it is believed a recruit's position coach should take over recruiting. A lot of film is watched. Especially in the summer and then early fall. Monday nights during the season are often spent calling recruits because it is not considered a busy night for the coaches. I don't think Lane Kiffin does this much different than Pete Carroll in terms of process. Perhaps the difference is that Kiffin and Orgeron are probably more disciplined. This isn't knock on Carroll because when he had a disciplined recruiting coordinator, he was probably the nation's best recruiter. But we saw some problems in his final years when he did not have a strong recruiting coordinator to keep him focused.
If the scouting services ranks teams by quality instead of quantity (average point rating vs. total points) where would SC finish this year?
When you go to the recruiting website and look at the ranking of schools, you can sort by "average". Whenever I've done this over the years, USC is almost always at the very top. Rivals has USC at the top right now, with an average recruit rating of 3.92. I don't know what Scouts Inc. or the others have us at.
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/
Along with quantity and quality of recruits, need is very important. Right now we are doing great on the quality side but we are falling short on two needs: dline and running back. Lets ssee what Kiffin and Company can pull out of the hat on LOI day.