Posted on: Wednesday, February 2, 2005
USC reloads even with core returning
| • | Leilehua linebacker latest Warrior recruit |
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
"Of course, we shouldn't be on the field with those good players (at USC). You know we can't compete with them. We probably shouldn't have scheduled them." — June Jones on KKEA radio, Jan. 25, 2005.
June Jones was kidding...we think.
At least the first impression was that the University of Hawai'i's head football coach was speaking with tongue firmly planted in cheek when discussing the Warriors' Sept. 3 season opener with two-time defending national champion Southern California.
But in light of what many of the so-called recruiting "experts" are saying today about the Trojans' recruiting crop, was the Warriors' coach more serious than imagined?
For today is national letter of intent day, the first day recruits can sign binding agreements, and when it comes to USC, the Trojans are a 24-karat example of the rich getting richer. It is Bill Gates winning the lottery or Warren Buffett finding oil under the maid's quarters.
Though in the case of the Trojans, who are poised to return a Heisman Trophy winner (Matt Leinart) and Reggie Bush, the most exciting player in college football last season, and a handful of lesser-known All-America candidates, getting any richer hardly seems possible.
Not only are the Trojans able to return 15 starters and 20 of the top 28 players from their unbeaten Orange Bowl team, they're poised to add what we are told by the recruiting gurus are the nation's top high school wide receiver (Patrick Turner from Tennessee), the leading linebacker (Rey Maualuga of California), the foremost quarterback (Mark Sanchez of California).
That is, of course, in addition to the top prospect from Hawai'i, Baldwin High linebacker Kaluka Maiava.
Then, there is the top junior college defensive tackle (Gabe Long of California), the leading JC offensive lineman (Kevin Myers of California).
No word yet on whether some assistant coaches' heads will roll for "only" getting the nation's third- or fourth-rated defensive ends or defensive backs.
Is it any wonder that several of the major recruiting reports, SuperPrep, Rivals.com, Prep Football report and Student
Sports.com, have had the Trojans on the top of their national recruiting Top 10s at various points in recent weeks?
Of course, recruiting is a notoriously inexact science — emphasis on the "inexact" part — and schools, even the marquee ones, make mistakes. Some players are over-hyped or never make it. And some players who aren't blue chips entering college become stars at schools that aren't brand names. But it is hard to imagine widespread crop failure.
Still, you wonder, with high school All-America quarterbacks stacked three and four deep at USC, when are they all going to play?
On second thought — and for any number of the Trojans' opponents — maybe it is a question best left unanswered.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
