I know this is a few days old but I wanted to have my say on Antwine Perez transferring out of SC.
Most important we wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up. He is a great talent and I'm sure will have a great NCAA career elsewhere.
This is one of the drawbacks to having talent stockpiled. Not everyone gets a chance to play. On the bright side, SC get a great commit in 5-Star recruit DL Everson Griffen. To me SC gets the better end of the deal here. They need top talent on the D line and that is not always easy to come by. We are stocked at the DB position.
Antwine Perez
Photo: Fight On Forever
From Wolf at the Daily News:
On the day USC officially acknowledged Perez left the team, defensive end Everson Griffen of Avondale, Ariz., ranked one of the top 10 players in the nation, committed to the Trojans. There could be a scholarship crunch because the Trojans already have 12 commitments but could easily go as high as 25 when recruiting is finished.
That's why Perez's departure might actually help in some ways, especially since he was not expected to play ahead of any USC's current safeties (Kevin Ellison, Taylor Mays, Josh Pinkard) or incoming recruit Marshall Jones from Oaks Christian of Westlake Village.
Perez, who is from New Jersey, also considered Rutgers and West Virginia.
"He's gone back home," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "He's looking for a better opportunity to play. That was his decision about the depth chart and playing time."
Gary Klein has pretty much the same take in the LA Times.
Practice was abuzz with news that another five-star prep recruit had committed to the Trojans, but the excitement was tempered somewhat by Coach Pete Carroll's confirmation that a member of the heralded 2006 class was transferring.
Everson Griffen of Arizona, regarded as one of the nation's top high school defensive linemen, announced he was coming to a program that appears on its way to landing another premier recruiting class. Meanwhile, Carroll is filling out paperwork that will allow safety Antwine Perez to leave for another school.
Last December, Perez graduated from high school in New Jersey a semester early so he could enroll at USC and participate in spring practice. He played sparingly this season and would have been listed behind junior Josh Pinkard, sophomore Kevin Ellison and freshman All-American Taylor Mays next season.
"He thinks he might have a better chance to play somewhere else,"
It is never a great thing to lose top talent, but in the end these are kids and they can't always be expected to handle these types of decisions in the same way that that older more experienced people do. If he was home sick and wanted to be close to home that's fine. He made the effort to play at SC by graduating HS early in order to qualify for SC spring football. That says a lot to me about his effort. He stepped up to make the commitment but sometimes it doesn't work out.
We wish him the best!