Just 5 weeks until the Trojans begin their fall football camp and 9 weeks until kickoff in Hawaii! This column will focus on the recent 2006 recruiting efforts of the coaching staff (then I'll shut up about this topic until after the 2005 season). This year's recruiting class focused on defense (12 recruits) as opposed to offense (5 recruits).
Next year's class should be more balanced. The priority positions are 1) safety, 2) punter, 3) quarterback, 4) running back, 5) cornerback, 6) defensive end, 7) fullback, 8) tight end, 9) defensive tackle, 10) linebacker, 11) offensive line, 12) wide receiver.
1) Safety - I see this as the top priority in 2006. Scott Ware will be gone and Darnell Bing will likely enter the NFL draft a year early. Josh Pinkard, Kevin Ellison, and Will Harris are young and none were superstar recruits like Bing. Coach Carroll is after three bigtime recruits - Taylor Mays (6-3, 220, 4.5) of Seattle, WA, Jonas Mouton (6-2, 210, 4.5) of Los Angeles and Antwine Perez (6-2, 200, 4.5) of Camden, NJ. Mays and Mouton have Bing's size and athletic ability. Perez is a little smaller and from the east coast (but Carroll signed Jarrett and Cushing out of New Jersey). RB recruit Stafon Johnson is also being considered at this position.
Expect USC to sign 2 safeties.2) Punter - Tom Malone is the best punter in the history of USC football. Coach Carroll will probably wait to see how these kid's punt during their senior season before making an offer. The top guy on the consideration list is Kyle Peterson (6-5, 200, 4.7) of Covina, CA.
USC MUST sign a replacement for Malone.3) Quarterback - The departure of Rocky Hinds leaves the Trojans with just three scholarship QBs in 2005. Matt Leinart will be playing in the NFL in 2006, so John David Booty and Mark Sanchez will battle for the starting spot. So far Coach Carroll's efforts have focused on two top 10 rated high school QBs - Tim Tebow (6'3", 220, 4.6) of St. Augustine, FL and Jake Locker (6'2", 210, 4.5) of Ferndale, WA. Tebow is a strong armed lefty. He was third in the voting for Florida's Mr. Football as a junior. Locker is a mobile QB that runs a wing-t offense in high school. Locker is a better bet to sign with USC because of distance and playing time situation. Coach Carroll has also offered a scholarship to class of 2007 QB Jimmy Clausen, whose older brothers started at QB for Tennessee. Clausen plays for Oaks Christian in Westlake Village, CA.
Expect the Trojans to sign 2 QBs in 2006 (but the top guys won't want to sit on the bench). USC might look to the junior college ranks for a QB.4) Running Back - It's not like the Trojan coaches didn't try to sign a RB in 2005, they recruited all the top kids such as Gwaltney, Lucky, Stewart, and Wells. It's just that none of them wanted to sit on the bench behind Thunder & Lightning. So with all the Trojan scholarship RBs eligible to return in 2006, why is Coach Carroll making RBs a top recruiting priority? Because Bush will most likely jump to the NFL and White, who has had some academic issues, may also jump to the NFL. If this is the case, Herschel Dennis (a 2005 medical redshirt) and Desmond Reed will compete for the starting job. But the door would be open for a top rated incoming freshman to walk right in and play. The Trojans have offered six top RBs scholarships. The biggest priority has to be Stafon Johnson (6'0", 200, 4.4) of Los Angeles. Johnson is the top RB on the west coast but he could also play safety in college. C.J. Gable (6-0, 185, 4.5) of Sylmar, CA and DeMarco Murray (6-0, 185, 4.4) of Las Vegas, NV are the other top west coast RBs.
Expect the Trojans to sign 2 RBs, probably Johnson and/or Gable.
5) Cornerback - Justin Wyatt and John Walker vacate their scholarships. The secondary will be young and Coach Carroll could look to the junior college ranks for help. So far, the coaches have offered three scholarships to CBs on the east coast (none west of the Mississippi). The top kid is Jai Eugene (5-11, 185, 4.4) of Destrehan, LA. CB is the only position at which Coach Carroll has struggled to sign a bigtime (5-star level) recruit. It doesn't appear that this will change in 2006 unless Carroll can sign Eugene or unless a CB in the California recruiting region has a knockout senior season.
Expect USC to sign 1-2 CBs.6) Defensive End - One scholarship will open up (Frosetee Rucker). Jeff Schweiger and Lawrence Jackson are formidable bookends. Rashaad Goodrum and Chris Barrett are extremely talented but injury prone. The top recruit in CA is Alex Parsons (6-5, 260, 4.7). The Trojans are also recruiting junior college DE Louis Holmes (6-6, 270, 4.6) of Scottsdale, AZ. Coach Carroll hasn't offered a scholarship to top prospect A.J. Simmons (6-4, 246, 5.0) of Oakland yet. Simmons wants to be a Trojan but is currently considering offers from California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.
Expect the Trojans to sign 2 DEs (but right now it doesn't look like there will be a kid as talented as Jackson and Schweiger).7) Fullback - This is often an overlooked position when it comes to recruiting. One scholarship will open up (David Kirtman). Brandon Hancock will return for one more year but has been injury prone and Jody Adewale hasn't shown much yet. There appears to be one top level FB recruit on the west coast - Chane Moline (6-1, 235, 4.7). Moline has UCLA roots and will probably sign with the Bruins. The solution may be to sign and convert a RB recruit such as Charles Scott (6-0, 220, 4.5) of Jonesboro, LA to FB. A recruit willing to make this move could play right away.
Expect USC to sign a FB (but who knows where they'll find him).
8) Tight End - Dominique Byrd departs. There are five scholarship TEs returning in 2006. JC Transfer Gerald Washington arrives in spring 2006. The Trojans have offered scholarships to Konrad Reuland (6-6, 240, 4.7) of Mission Viejo, CA and Nate Byham (6-4, 220, 4.6) of Franklin, PA.
Expect 1 TE recruit to sign with USC.9) Defensive Tackle - One scholarship will open up (LaJuan Ramsey). Whether or not this is a critical recruiting position depends on how quickly Sedrick Ellis and the other young DT's develop. Highly regarded JC Transfer Gabe Long is expected to join the team in spring 2006. The coaching staff has offered six top DT recruits. The top kid in CA could be Derek Hill (6-2, 270, 5.2) of Oakland. Derek Simmons (6-4, 270, 4.9) of Fairfield, CA has verbally comitted to USC and could be used as a DE or DT. If Long suits up in a Cardinal & Gold uniform this spring and Ellis performs well in 2005, DT may not be a recruiting priority next spring. Travis Tofi, Lawrence Miles, Walker Lee Ashley, and Averell Spicer already provide solid depth to the position.
Expect 1-2 DTs to sign on as Trojans (probaby just 1 if Long is around).
10) Linebacker - Three scholarships open up (Dallas Sartz, Ryan Powdrell and Collin Ashton) . USC has the best freshman class of LBs in the nation in 2005 (Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing, Luther Brown, and Kaluka Maiava). With Keith Rivers leading the charge LB should be the most talented position on the team (other than WR) in 2006. Even with the all this talent at LB, Coach Carroll considers LB Allen Bradford (6-0, 220, 4.5) of Colton, CA to be the top recruit in the class of 2006. The Trojans are also after Joshua Tatum (6-1, 220, 4.5) of Oakland, CA. Los Angeles native Mark Johnson (6-3, 230, 4.5) wants to be a Trojan but has yet to receive an offer from Coach Carroll. Johnson has received offers from LSU, Miami and Ohio State.
Expect the Trojans to sign 2-3 LBs (with Bradford leading the way).11) Offensive Line - The OL is so young that the only scholarship senior is Taitusi Lutui! Winston Justice may jump to the NFL if he has a good year. JC Transfer Kevin Myers is expected to join the team this fall or next spring. So far the coaching staff has offered seven top OL recruits. Zach Heberer (6-4, 275, 5.1), who may be the top OL recruit in CA has verbally comitted to USC. The top recruit on the west coast is Steve Schilling (6-5, 285, 4.9) of Bellevue, WA.
Expect the Trojans to sign 2 OL. Schilling would be a major catch.12) Wide Receiver - Two scholarships will open up in 2006 (William Buchanon and Greig Carlson. I doubt Steve Smith will choose to enter the NFL draft early). Coach Carroll has focused on two WRs so far - David Ausberry (6'4", 210, 4.4) of Lenmoore, CA and Percy Harvin (6-0, 185, 4.3) of Virginia Beach, VA. Both are considered to be in the top 10 WRs of 2006. Ausberry is the top WR on the west coast. He would like to sign with the Trojans, but is worried about sitting on the bench behind Smith, Dwayne Jarrett, Whitney Lewis and Patrick Turner. Harvin is a Reggie Bush type playmaker that is on every team's wish list. Harvin will probably stay on the east coast, but a good sign of Carroll's efforts is that he has only set one official visit to date - to USC on October 29th for the homecoming game against Washington State. Michael Bolio, a speedy junior college WR, is looking to join the Trojans in spring 2006.
Expect the Trojans to sign 1 WR (probably Ausberry).
