Recruiting Wrap Up

by Paragon SC on Feb 8, 2007 7:37 PM PST in Recruiting

What, Me Worry...Nah!
Photo: ESPN.com

So we put the UCLA game behind us and do a little celebratin' as once again Pete Carroll pulls down another top recruiting class. All the letters-of-intent are in and the Boards have spoken.

With SC grabbing the three top prospects, depending on whom you ask, in the country they clearly have one of the best recruiting classes this year and probably the best in Pete Carroll's tenure by shear numbers alone. Some have been wondering why we went after all the top running backs out there? Well, that answer is simple, SC goes after top athletes and plugs them into places where they are needed. That has been his trick to success. Pete Carroll also may add Arkansas QB Mitch Mustain which would be the icing on the cake. You can never have enough talented QB's. I know about all the issues with his parents but that's the price you pay for top fight talent sometimes and there isn't a better person to handle that situation than Pete Carroll.

Recruiting is tough business as we all know and there have already been stories out there about the negative recruiting tactics that ALL the coaches use; ok, maybe not the guy from across town, I'm just kidding ;-). Its part of the game like it or not, there is a certain amount of gamesmanship that goes on and either you have the stomach for it or you don't. These kids know how to work the system too, with over-zealous parents or hangers on so they can dish it out as good as they get. There are always some hurt feelings as teams try to get the best players they can and when they lose they move on. But if something better catches their eye then their out to hunt.

In the end no one really knows how any one class will do over all but success at the D-1 level has been shown to be directly tied to recruiting. If it wasn't important there wouldn't be all this hoopla over it.

Here are the Rankings

Scout.com #3

Rivals.com #2

ESPN.com #1

Here are the numbers:

Five Star Recruits: 6

Four Star Recruits: 10

Three Star Recruits: 2

Here is the list:

0 recs | Comment 6 comments

Story-email Email | Print |

Comments

not a flame

I know that everyone would love (especially us Bruin fans) to see some of the guys that USC gets over in Westwood, but do any of you guys see any problems with the USC recruiting philosophy, which appear to me to be "get the best players out there regardless of position as we'll be just fine?" I am overstating the case I am sure, but this year's class seems overloaded with RB talent coming after a year with a ton of great RB talent (Gable, Moody et al.) Is there any risk to this style which appears to me to , well, not ignore so much as discount the value of recruiting for need. For example, it seems to me that the depth of great RB's and LB's is going to lead to a dearth of linemen and not all these guys are going to be able to switch to another position like Bradford apparently can and be effective. Obviously, the recruiting philosphy has worked fine so far, but I can't remember a class so deep in 5-stars at every position coming in to a situation so loaded with previous 5-star talent. Again, I'm not trying to flame here, I'm genuinely curious to know if there are any Trojan fans who pay closer attention to this stuff than I do who see any potential problems with USC's recruiting style.

by ucladj89 on Feb 9, 2007 1:21 PM PST 0 recs

I think it's tracking to expected graduation point

Solely my opinion as opposed to something that I've taken the time to validate, but:

The defense and offense have had, in the past, different cyclical graduation rates, so it has looked to me like Carroll et al tend to work against where they are in the cycle. The defense was pretty young in 2006 after a flood of departures, whereas they go into 2007 with a fair bit of experience and more importantly younger players looking to work into the starter positions.

I was a bit taken aback about RB recruiting, but Moody is a rising senior with iffy grades and an iffier hamstring. The freshman running backs, aside from maybe Gable, didn't make much of an impression in 2006, which I think was partly lack of experience and also the O-Line not getting it done.

However, given the relative inexperience of the WR's next season, I'd think it's pretty important to keep working the RB position as well -- they're going to need much more consistency there. So while the recruiting maybe seemed a little much, it's backup for 2007 and also means that if they need to replace experience defensive line players in the 2008 recruiting season, they can focus on that...

by DC Trojan on Feb 11, 2007 11:37 PM PST up 0 recs

Not Pete's first BBQ

No flame inferred, so don't worry.

There are any number of reasons why recruits may not pan out (adjustments to college life, academic issues, injuries, transferring because of lack of playing time, etc.) However, I think since USC is the only school that has had a Top 5 recruiting class for the past 5 years, AND has also translated that recruiting talent to on-the-field performance, I'm willing to defer to Pete Carroll and staff on this.

by Defender90 on Feb 9, 2007 2:11 PM PST 0 recs

Mitch Mustain

We'll see if this ends up happening, but I would also suggest those who haven't read up on the Arkansas situation do so before re-hashing the calling out of the parents involved. Initially, I, too, thought they seemed out of line and more than a bit self-centered in requesting the meeting to discuss their sons' future as Hawgs. However, as more of the behind-the-scenes machinations were revealed, I gained a better understanding of their perspective.

by Defender90 on Feb 9, 2007 2:23 PM PST 0 recs