Well as far as I am concerned football season ended yesterday. Pete Carroll and his staff did a great job of pulling in a pretty good recruiting class that lacked any star power at either the QB or RB position. This recruiting class was all about needs. The offensive and defensive lines were the most important issues that needed to be addressed. Defensive backs were also a need and SC did and adequate job in addressing some of those needs.

We did miss out on some skill position players like Will Hill- Florida, Chris Polk- Washington and Patrick Johnson- LSU just to name a few, but that happens. Losing Joe Adams to Arkansas doesn't look like a real big surprise to the coaching staff as Pete Carroll noted here:

Missing out on some other players like Arthur Brown- Miami, or Jerrell Harris- Alabama is disappointing but with PC's ability to even be in the hunt for these out of state recruits shows just how strong he is when it comes to recruiting. PC pulled both T.J. Bryant and Nick Perry out of state, Bryant being he real surprise as PC broke the chain of kids from Lincoln High School in Tallahassee that always ended up at Florida State. Perry was the second player that PC was able to get out of Michigan for a second straight year.

If you care about rankings than you'll like to know that a number of the so-called "recruiting experts" thought that both the offensive and defensive line signee's were the best in the country when taken as a whole. Pete Carroll called it "a big class" in reference to their size.

As I noted yesterday, it's easy to get caught up in all the hype, but regardless with the "low numbers" of this class that PC has put them into a top-10 spot is pretty remarkable. Sure, the top teams listed in the rankings grabbed some pretty good talent in their right but a lot of those classes had over 25 or even 30 players signed so the quantity aspect of judging talent was more prevalent in those cases. Either way this class looks to be solid based on the numbers that the recruiting services have thrown about. I would prefer to wait until these kids take the field to see how they will perform but I am happy with the result so far.

What the heck I'll do as best as I can.

From WeAreSC

I'll update as I can.

Update [2008-2-6 11:25:49 by Paragon SC]: Looks like Joe Adams changed his mind and decided to stay in Arkansas. I had a bad feeling about this on 2 fronts, 1) SC wanted him as a corner not a receiver and 2) Ryan Mallet transferring from Michigan. Hearing rumors on Nick Perry Commiting to SC that would be a great get. (confirmed on WeAreSC)

Update [2008-2-6 11:42:3 by Paragon SC]: KABOOOOOOOOM! Confirmed, Nick Perry does pick SC that is a great get for PC! The D Line will be in much better shape!

Update [2008-2-6 12:17:17 by Paragon SC]: From USCRipsit.com

Update [2008-2-6 12:38:57 by Paragon SC]: WOW! PC pulls in T. J. Bryant that’s a great get.

Update [2008-2-6 15:8:17 by Paragon SC]: Jerrell Harris goes to Alabama. Not surprising, we will be a little thin at LB after next year. Oh well can’t get them all. Still waiting on Kavienga

Update [2008-2-6 21:44:58 by Paragon SC]: Kavienga announces for USC. The class is pretty much complete. I will have a write up later on tomorrow.

Great Class!

FIGHT ON!

With the carnage about to ensue today in regards to recruiting there are a couple of articles in the local press as to where USC will finish today. I'll get to those in a minute but more important was the piece I saw over at the Wizard of Odds the other day that to me really says it all.

In regards to USC it make us pump our chests out when we sign top talent. Without that talent its very hard to win let alone compete for an MNC. But as I have noted before talent will only get you so far as coaching is the key to developing that raw talent. As the talent develops you need to bring it all together so that it's firing on all cylinders. Pete Carroll is one of the best at doing just that but he is not perfect and sometimes he falls short.

I have a hard time evaluating 17-18 year old kids based on what some recruiting magazine says or by watching clips on YouTube. I just don't see it as an accurate assessment of how these kids will perform at the next level. Full disclosure I subscribe to some of the premium recruiting sites more for general name recognition and player Bio's more than anything else. I have never, because I'm not interested in doing so, written a piece about how a particular player is rated or such simply because it's just too hard to gauge how well the player will do.

Sure it's great for the ego when SC is ranked in the top 3-year in and year out but how have those recruiting classes developed or performed in the years to follow? To me that is the best gauge of good a recruiting class is. Again, as I have noted in the past I am more concerned about quality and filling needs than raking in numbers. I thought it was a mistake for PC to go after so many RB's last year as there were surely other needs that needed to be met.

I trust in Pete Carroll but he is not infallible and when he does its not hard to see how there are some who are practically throwing themselves off a building because they don't necessarily like the results. PC is already taking some heat on some of the message boards with this recruiting class and its not even signed yet. Some the overlying concerns like PC's continued flirtation with NFL is a legitimate criticism the Reggie Bush situation, as it stands now, is not.

Wolf has a pretty good article today looking at this year's class.

Fair points, sometimes you need to change your approach to keep ahead of the curve, PC may have been caught a little flatfooted in regards to early commits but he definitely rebounded in regards to 2009 class. I do think his continued interest in the NFL will hurt him as long as he continues to show interest. Other coaches will always use that against him. The Bush mess will continue to be an issue until the final ruling is in so that's out of our hands.

The pride factor is sure to piss some people off as some of our local and national rivals put together some pretty good classes. (this is best article of the bunch)

Of course we all know recruiting is a dirty business as we have heard the stories of how Florida's Urban Meyer has handled things but should we really be surprised?

Some are already looking past the 2008 class and starting to focus on 2009. To me that's way too early but you need to roll with the changes.

More important for this class is that you can't count Pete Carroll out yet, he has been known to pull out a few surprises of his own.

It should be interesting to see how the day unfolds. I will do my best to set up an open thread to watch the days activities.

Well you know recruiting season is close to the end with some of the weird things I'm reading.

From Dohn's Blog:

That had to make to make Rick really happy!

Here a few from Wolf's Blog:

Then there's this doozie:

Now I'm not sure about that last one but it just goes to show you just how nutty recruiting season can get. I'm sure it will get even more crazy before signing day on Wednesday.

I don't follow too much recruiting news during this part of the season. Too many things can happen and the last minute flurry of activity can spawn all sorts of rumors. That being said there have been some interesting things that have been happening over the past couple of weeks so I thought I would throw my .2 cents in.

Earlier this evening I saw a report that USC commit Chris Polk de-committed from USC and committed to UW. Now this sort of stuff happens all the time, we saw it last season with James Wilson De-committing from SC to play at UF. But I find it interesting that after Willingham dodged a bullet by keeping his job, which cost the UW AD his job, that Ty had a spark of life out there and went after one of SC's early commits.

Last week 5-star JUCO receiver Carl Moore committed to UF after supposedly giving USC a "silent" verbal then changed his mind when UF offered Moore's girlfriend a gymnastics scholarship. Urban Meyer really pulls out all the stops, as it has also been reported that that Meyer is bringing Pastor Tebow to a home visit with USC prospect Arthur Brown. I'll give him points for originality.

Bobby Petrino going to Arkansas will put an interesting twist in the battle for Arkansas standout Joe Adams. Adams committed to USC a couple of months ago but don't think that Petrino won't also pull out all the stops to try and get that Arkansas home grown talent back into the fold. After Petrino's despicable treatment of the Atlanta Falcons I know exactly how SC will counter Petrino's advances on Adams.

The news isn't all bad though. The coaching uncertainty across town has made a few bruin commits reconsider their commitment to ucla. One of those is Derrick Coleman who while still committed to ucla is reconsidering and is looking hard at USC.

Who knows how it will all end up, but it all the drama makes for some interesting reading. USC is in a tough spot they have a ton of talent on its depth chart so they will lose out on some these kids who commit after they take a second look. SC is not for everyone, Moody transferred when he felt that he was being ignored. There have been other rumors that a few SC players will transfer after the season because of playing time and such. Some kids don't want to compete once they see the talent that SC has amassed, others will step up thinking they can break in, those are the types of kids SC wants and we will make the most out them.

You can't stay on top forever but SC sure does try

As USCLink noted in the diaries tight end Blake Ayles (6-4, 255) announced his commitment to USC today.

From WeAreSC:

This a good verbal for SC.

SC also added JUCO Kicker Joe Houston from El Camino College. Houston will enter the fall semester as a preferred walk-on.

The only reason he is coming is because of the loss of Mario Danelo.

4-Star DT Armond Armstead will make his commitment decision on July 30th.

This kid is a stud and SC is in a good place to land him.

Earlier this month 4-Star OL Daniel Campbell committed to USC over Florida, and LSU.

As I have said many times in the past I'll be happy when they sign the LOI but it looks like SC is putting together another solid class for 2008.

Drew McAllister made an early (oral) commitment to USC for the 08 season. ESPN ($) was reporting that he had committed as a quarterback - the position he plays at Monte Vista HS in Danville - but he is looking to play at safety.

According to the Tri-Valley Herald, McAllister plans to play as QB this year, but is hoping to mix in some time on the defensive side on the ball - last season he played cornerback occasionally.

The person twist for this one is that McAllister's family is pretty solidly Cal people:

As Paragon is apt to say, it's only real when someone puts pen to paper, but I do like the idea of someone with speed and offensive smarts playing in the secondary. As our good friends in the SEC know, speed kills on defense, so here's hoping.

Welcome, Drew McAllister, and Fight On!

As I said earlier this week Pete Carroll keeps feeding the machine, his latest commit is Wes Horton (6-5.5, 236) from Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks.

From We are SC:

With all the DE's that SC is losing at the end of next season he ability to start is greatly increased.

But to me here is the kicker, Horton's dad played for UCLA during the Vermeil era but heading to Westwood was not even an option.

Really...No S***!

Utterly freakin' amazing!

No surprise there as our friends from across town continue to wallow in the mediocrity of the current regime. Pete Carroll continues to build a great program for the future. With five commits for the 2008 season he is off to a fast start in the recruiting wars for 2008.

Fight On Pete!

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Welcome to the show! Photo: CNN/SI

Pete Carroll is denying any wrong-doing and until someone shows me any wrongdoing his word is good enough for me. I'm not going to continually walk around being scared of my shadow every time some potential discrepancy comes up on the radar. After a while you get the feeling a lot of this attention is just because of how successful we have been. It happens every where so why should this be different.

That's about how it feels. Who knows what the story is here, but I do know I won't be commenting on it in either direction until I know what the full story is. Based on PC's Cowherd interview and comments in the local media it does appear that there are two different stories, who knows? The way things play out these days I wouldn't be surprised if LSU AND ND were behind all this. Recruiting is a dirty business.

I have seen all sorts of stories about what this coach did or what that coach did and after a while you just sit back and laugh. College football is at an all time high in terms of popularity and we have some great games that have launch the interest in this sport to new levels. With that increased interest come the focus on all of the other aspects of the sport. An the one that feed the machine so-to-speak is recruiting, so much that all of the major site are even tracking juniors in high school and there is a Story on BON about offering scholarships to Sophomores. Now that’s just unreal.

We end up selling our souls for these kids when they aren’t equipped enough to make normal teenager decisions and put them into situations that spin out of control. Of course it is compounded when the fan base calls a kid stupid when he doesn’t make a decision that is their favor and questions his or his parents intelligence when the decision is made. I especially loved the remark that I saw elsewhere that questioned McKnight’s smarts about picking USC because of the Annenberg School. The kid knows that this is THE best school of its kind and just because it’s at SC he is considered stupid for picking a school that would further his education which is what a lot of the complaints about SC are about, We're not smart enough, Blah, Blah, Blah. You can’t have it both ways. Freaking hypocritical and Moronic!

I do know that it could have well been confusion on McKnight as the heat of the moment was pretty wild at the time of his announcement, I mean come on, he's is the top rated player in the country, of course it will be a circus. So as I head out this week on business I will watch from the cheap seats to see how it all plays out.

Regardless of how it all turns out you can already hear the screaming about SC being a bunch of cheaters and the like, oh well it wouldn't be a normal day if SC weren't called out on something. Life's a bitch when not on top, or put another way unless you're the lead dog the view is petty much the same.

Should be fun to watch!

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

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: