After grabbing Vanderdoes today, according to Rivals they have 14 recruits in the top 162. They have 9% of the top 162! What the hell is Lane Kiffin doing over there?
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He is cheating. All he does is cheat. Taking recruits like this, its despicable. What a cheater.
/BielemaVoice
Kiffin is a complete tool, mediocre coach and abrasive jerk....but he can sell a school like nobody else. His dad is a defensive whiz who loves coaching with his son. Monty (sp?) Kiffin will have the USC D at the top again in no time, especially with players like Cravens and Vanderdoes. The question will be can the Trojans maintain consistent winning like they did under Carroll, or will they drop a key game or two every single year, like Boise?
USC recruits itself.
Its located in paradise and draws from the entire West Coast - its the the only blue chip power along the West Coast. Its only regional recruiting rivals are Oregon to the north and Texas to the west; Cal doesnt count. Oregon has great facilities and has been outstanding in recent years but it doesn't have the draw of a USC, which only rivals schools like OSU, Texas, Florida and Alabama in pageantry and tradition. California has the most fertile recruiting grounds in the nation - it is a massive state in terms of square mileage and USC gets whoever they want. Kids grew up watching the Pete Carroll teams are especially susceptible.
- Respect the Rivalry -
Heck of a class...
Damn. It looked like Vanderdoes was Oregon's to lose, and they lost him.
What did you expect? They pretty much get to hand pick all the kids they want in a huge city and state with tons of talent...and they have a real shot with any top talent in the country willing to leave their home area. Selling Hollywood (the weather, the women etc) to high school kids would be the easiest job a head coach could hope for.
D. Anthony
I'm more impressed with what we do dragging kids to the midwest...honestly.
"Winter is coming" - Urban Meyer
Yeah, I gotta agree with most of the comments here. With all due respect to Kiffin, USC isn't exactly a "hard Sell" to 18 year old males. I am a die hard Ohio State fan, but I would be tempted by the weather, women and atmosphere at USC.
Is LA really paradise? The school isn't a hard sell, but I think Kiffen is less likely to succeed with all that talent than Pete Carol did.
Yea USC's class is down right sickening talent wise. At this rate I'd hate to see what they'd do minus the scholarship limits. I think our '14 class will be something like USC's '13 class as far as player for player rating. I say USC stays relevant, and Lane keeps winning as long as daddy is there. The good thing about it, daddy isn't going to leave, to become a head coach else where.
If I was an athlete with D1 offers, I'd probably go to USC simply because of the weather and location.
Ive been on visits to both UCLA and USC and UCLA is by FAR wayyyyyy better then USC. UCLA is in the 90210 and USC is in the hood...
Northland Grad 2006
All City 03/04/05 Baseball
All City 04/05 Football
D 2 Saginaw Valley State University.
And this can't hurt.
Fan of bacon since 1981
jesus, mary, and joseph
"Winter is coming" - Urban Meyer
I'm all for anyone gunning to upset the ESSSEEEECCCCEEEEE apple cart.
Kiffin can also sell early playing time to these guys... limited schollies has led to depth problems which lends to stud recruits getting on the field early.
Agree with NYBUCKEYE, while southern california is a great place to be in general, USC is in a crappy part of town, particularly compared to UCLA.
Well if you have ever spent any time in southern california then you know what Lane Kiffin is doing.
I love living here, though Im not in LA. I would hate living in LA... I wouldn't say USC is in the best location, but it is driving distance to some awesome places.
LA, hot women everywhere, great academics and a successful and tradition rich football program........in addition to what FAIL stated.
Easiest sell in college football.
I live in OC.
FailtotheVictors is on the right track. It's partly a numbers game. USC is a fball powerhouse that enjoys a great strategic location, including good spatial separation from other major competitors. Certainly, the city/region/state in which USC is located can be a powerful draw for some kids, although its neighborhood is most certainly NOT a positive draw.
Keep in mind also that USC is legendary (or notorious) for the networking power of its alumni (which is why I was surprised that USC got hit pretty heavily by the NCAA). The benefits of that network do not have to entail overt recruiting shenanigans - although that's been known to happen there - nevertheless, players who enter that pipeline are often "set for life" (the same can be said about Ohio State; however, the Ohio State network/pipeline is a little less glizty and not as mega-wealthy as the USC version). I imagine that recruits are introduced to the attractions of the USC culture in sly ways, without even having to violate any NCAA rules per se.
That said, USC had some mediocre spurts in the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Success is not guaranteed there (or anywhere else). All it takes is for a bad coaching hire like Paul Hackett or Larry Smith to f' things up. Kiffin might be one those hires, time will tell. Kiffin went 8-5 and 10-2 in the first two years, which is impressive. But Larry Smith went 8-4, 10-2, and 8-2-1 (with three straight Rose Bowl appearances) before allowing the program to slide. As we've mentioned, USC has a lot of built-in advantages, so it's quite possible that Kiffin could win for 2-4 years "on fumes" before people realized that he was weakening the program.
He certainly isn't going to lose because of lack of talent.
USC is one of the only schools that not only has a deep history of excellence, but has also excelled in the present day. They have the location, the helmets, the long list of Heismann winners and NFL stars. They have a national presence and a definite mystique. I've said it before, Mickey Mouse could bring top ten classes into USC, and Lane Kiffen is no Mickey Mouse, but rather a tenacious and crafty recruiter. Sill not sure what kind of coach he can be, but get used to watching USC bring in crazy amounts of talent. Oh wait, we are used to it.
I have friends and family from LA to SanDiego. As NYBUCKEYE says, UCLA is, by a wide margin, nicer than SC. UCLA is essentially in Beverly Hills (westwood), and the campus is stunning (not Pepperdine stunning, but really beautiful). You can walk off campus and be as safe as one can be in one of the worlds largest cities. USC, on the other hand, is in one of the worst parts of LA. DO NOT leave campus, if you do you travel at your own risk. Having said all of that the weather in SoCal is the very best in North America. The city was built in a desert, and the arid, warm year round temps in addition to the 300 plus days of sunshine a year is all very tempting. The weather, plus the mountains and beaches, and USC's top ten football tradition make it a very desirable program. If I were from California, or most anywhere in the country, USC would be at or near the top of my list simply so that I could experience LA for four years without having to pay an arm and a leg to live there. I'm an Ohio State alum, and I love the Buckeyes, but the weather here blows worse than almost anywhere in the country IMO. Since the "de-regionalization" of college football after the Earl Bruce era at OSU, what coaches Cooper, Tressel and Meyer have accomplished from a recruiting standpoint is very impressive. The almost unparalleled tradition here, plus the fact that Ohio is one of the 7 best states in the country for high school football trump the rotten weather obviously, but USC has ALMOST equal tradition plus all that's been mentioned. IMO USC is one of the easiest, if not the easiest place in the country to recruit kids to. What it currently lacks in facilities (and is rapidly improving) it more than makes up for in every other way.
kiffins daddy will make that team strong with the talent he is getting defensively... if the other team cant score they cant win. layne is a joke and it would be very obv how bad of a coach he is if it wasnt for daddy.
mark may wins douchebag of the year... again
I live in Orange County as well. Ohio State is a great campus, but in no way compares to what the west coast has to offer kids at that age. If you are thinking like an 18 year old, it is hard to pass up all that USC has to offer besides a great football program that is rich in tradition.
^^ Agree 100%
I think we have to consider what the argument should be if we are strictly at potential for recruits to like an enviornment and campus, UCLA would be a power year in and year out. USC is a tradition and recruits as such and gets the best of the west every year. Texas has been down because A&M and TCU are rising before Texas ran the state. Same goes with Florida.
Northland Grad 2006
All City 03/04/05 Baseball
All City 04/05 Football
D 2 Saginaw Valley State University.
There is no question that The Half-Monty is great at attracting talent (look at his wife). Although I think it will be difficult to lose with so much talent, I still do not think the jury is out on him as a coach. This season should answer a lot of questions.
How can you say Texas is down when they've been in the top 10 for recruiting for the past 10 years! And mostly they were in the top 3! A&M and TCU have NEVER competed with UT in recruiting! TCU gets all 3 star recruits and A&M has always got UT's leftovers!
As far as the atmosphere for USC, it may be true that thats a big factor for recruitment but if that is 100% the case then why doesn't Hawaii do well in recruitment. Personally, I'd much rather go to Hawaii than I would USC.
I don't get why a few people here are saying things like Kiffen is selling early playing time, fewer roster spots etc. USC doesn't have to sell any of that crap to get a top class. This isn't even USC's #1 class the past 10 or 15 years. Their 2004 class had 8 five-star players!!!!! They routinely get 2,3,4,or5 five stars on RIVALS.com
It's easy to recruit at USC. no gimmicks needed.
Let Kendrick Lamar guide you-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJc0M4CjmNg
I wonder if a campus/surrounding area like USC's is more comfortable for some recruits
Wildman case in point Sealy Jones decommited, Mike Mitchell is an OSU lean two elite guys out of Texas not going to Texas when I said Texas being down i ment on the field.
Northland Grad 2006
All City 03/04/05 Baseball
All City 04/05 Football
D 2 Saginaw Valley State University.
Very good @Sainttressel at 18 that about sums it up lol...
Texas didn't pursue Mitchell because he wants to play LB and they want him to be a DE, just for the record, not a great example. Texas still has a great class this year, there are more than enough elite players in the state for all the schools to share
USC Is not in the middle of paradise. It's located in South Central Losangeles with a bunch of gangs within miles of it. Yes it's in SoCal, but a lot of SoCal is a inner city dump. I know I lived there for 24 years. It's a traditional powerhouse program with a former pro coach in a warm and sunny climate with the beach 15 mins away..of coarse they're going to get a lot of top recruits.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.