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As is the norm, there are big names who have moved on down the road in the Pac 10. From bowl-winning QB's to standout running backs, the list is a long one. But clearly one of the most exciting things about an upcoming season of college football is always the element of the unknown. What young players are waiting in the wings? What hotshot recruit with all the whispers that he is going to be special will finally be unleashed for public consumption? But as is usually the case, the young replacements come in to take the spots of some pretty established players who leave a large body of work behind them. With that, we look at the five biggest Pac 10 shoes that must be filled and the candidates to replace them.

JOHN DAVID BOOTY, QB, USC

The QB position for USC is always a glamor spot, and a perfect place to start. John David Booty came into the 2007 season as everyone's Heisman favorite, and for good reason. Booty was coming off a 2006 breakthrough performance, throwing for over 3300 yards and 29 TD's. But while USC went 11-2, won a share of the conference title, and Booty capped off his senior season with a fine performance in a Rose Bowl blowout of Illinois, still, things didn't quite work out. He threw for nearly 1,000 fewer yards in 2007 than he had the prior year. A broken finger on his throwing hand had a lot to do with it, and he even missed three games due to the injured digit. But that said, Booty was more about stats. He was a leader and a winner, and could be more difficult to replace than originally thought. This year we find out if Mark Sanchez is the answer. Or will we? Sanchez, as was reported last week, suffered a dislocated knee cap during non-contact drills. While still not 100% officially ruled out for the season opener at Virginia, the latest report has his status very much up in the air. Meanwhile, Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain and redshirt frosh Aaron Corp will run the offense in a job that suddenly appears wide open. It could be worse though. Mustain didn't go completely bananas at Arkansas, throwing for a modest 894 yards in eight starts as a true frosh year in 2006. But he did go a perfect 8-0 as a starter, so, he's got that going for him. Which is good.

The start of Spring Football could not come a day sooner for the USC Trojans after the heralded Men of Troy Basketball squad went one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament--and there is good reason to pay attention to what's happening on Howard Jones Field.

Mark Sanchez, Aaron Corp and Arkansas-transfer Mitch Mustain will be battling it out to determine who will replace John David Booty in the fall. Redshirt Junior Sanchez has the leg up according to head coach Pete Carroll, "It will be interesting to see if Mitch and (freshman) Aaron (Corp) can catch up. That's what we'll have to find out."

For Mustain to catch up and win the starting job, he must make sure that time is on his side, and make the coaching staff prolong their decisionmaking process into the fall.

"If it doesn't get decided, it looks better for Aaron or I," Mustain told the Daily News. "From August, it's like night and day for me. And even from December, it's a huge difference, even with where I stand on the team in terms of leadership since (Booty) left. I'm not going to be reluctant to exercise it."

While Stanford is known primarily for its academics and oft-inebriated tree, the University of Southern California has made its reputation with its football program. Its winning football program.

So it should come as no surprise that as many as seven members of the Trojans' recruiting Class of 2011 will be subject to scrutiny from the NCAA's academic clearinghouse.

Among those on the short list, however, was incoming quarterback Aaron Corp of Orange Lutheran, who is said to have breezed through the admissions process for USC making NCAA approval seem like a mere formality.

If there is one over-arching theme to the brief tenure of Dennis Erickson at Arizona State, it can be summed up in one word: commitment.

The head ball coach for the Sun Devils came to Tempe after just one season coaching the Idaho Vandals. Now, he has poached one of Southern California's best High School quarterbacks from the USC Trojans.

Camarillo's Samson Szakacsy has de-committed from the Trojans and will instead be a Sun Devil.

Szakacksy had committed last Spring when it looked like the Trojans may need his services immediately--John David Booty was out with back troubles and Mark Sanchez was arrested on unfounded sexual assault charges. But Booty and Sanchez are back and Aaron Corp is waiting in the wings, which sent Szakacsy, like Jimmy Clausen before him, looking for an open starting job elsewhere.

For the uninitiated, the 'Best in the West' is an annual publication of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. It is a list of the west's top high school football players, as voted on by a panel of recruitniks. It used to be a lot more prestigious but still carries weight. To be eligible, players must be from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah or Washington.

Atop the list is Arizona defensive end Everson Griffen. If you saw the US Army High School All America game you know what this kid can do. He's ridiculously fast and is headed to USC.

After Griffen are national names like Jimmy Clausen (quarterback headed to Notre Dame), Chris Galippo (LB-USC), Marc Tyler (RB/LB-USC), Donovan Warren (CB-Undecided), Kris O'Dowd (OL-USC), Ryan Miller (OT-Colorado), Brian Price (DT-UCLA) and Aaron Corp (QB-USC).

You can see the full list after the jump.

The BIW is notable because it's a reasonable assessment of elite talent coming out of western high schools. As they note in the release:

Out of all 746 BIW players, 52 have been drafted in the first round by an NFL franchise. When Cincinnati chose Carson Palmer in the 2003 draft, he joined John Elway as the only two Best in the West players selected with the first overall pick.