FanHouse EversonGriffen

While looking at the Pac-10 impact freshmen category, it would have been simple enough to take the top 5 or so USC recruits and simply list them below. But, obviously that's the easy way out. While USC has the two best frosh to hit the field for '07, there actually are other programs with young talent that will be on display this fall. Without further delay, check out FanHouse's view of the top impact freshmen of the upcoming season:

1. Joe McKnight, RB, USC

Take a gander at the grainy picture below. That's incoming USC football recruit Everson Griffen (in red) jumping over a defender on the way to a touchdown run.



'Hm, that's kind of interesting' you might say to yourself before thinking nothing else of it.

Thing is, Griffen's merely moonlighting as a tailback. In reality he's a 6'-4", 270 pound defensive end starting his college football career in just a few months. Can your defensive end do that? USC's can.

I've watched a lot of highlight tapes over the years and I've rarely seen tailbacks do that whole mid-air hurdle routine. I've seen exactly zero 270-pound defensive ends do it. So yeah, he's a freak.

For more of Griffen be sure and check out all his videos at Rivals.com.

In Part One I named five college football recruits who will make an "impact" in 2007 and beyond. What follows are the top five impact recruits.

Please keep in mind the word impact can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. My rubric is slanted towards guys who people will be talking about early in their careers and not necessarily the best players, period.

• Jahvid Best, Tailback (California) - The "sleeper" out of my ten, if you want to call him that. Best is a little on the light/small side (5'-10"/183 pounds) but the man can scoot (a California high school best 10.39 in the 100-yard dash). There are only a handful of people every year who are that fast and are legitimate football players. Think Ted Ginn, Reggie Bush, those types of zoom zoomers. Best may be the next. Video here and here. Strange video here.

• Joe McKnight, Athlete (USC or LSU or Ole Miss) - McKnight is considered by many to be the best recruit in this year's class. People compare him to Reggie Bush because of his versatility (15 yards/carry, 30 yards/reception) but he's a little slower (10.75 compared to 10.41 in the 100 meter dash). That said McKnight can do it and should start out as a running back. Video here, here, here.
  

• Noel Devine, Running Back (West Virginia) - Many would consider Devine the nation's top recruit but his off-field elusiveness and questionable academics have muted expectations a tad. That said, outside of Reggie Bush there hasn't been a more breathtaking player to come out of the high school ranks. It's useless to give words to his abilities, just watch tape and see for yourself. He just committed to West Virginia and if he miraculously qualifies will be all over SportsCenter every Saturday night for the next three years. Boatloads of videos (~45) here. Noel Devine is a YouTube phenomena and has been since his sophomore year of high school.
  

• Everson Griffen, Defensive End (USC) - If we can return from space and into the relatively elevated stratosphere for a moment, we must talk about the amazing Everson Griffen. Aside from Devine, no other player's tape stands out more this year than Griffen's. He puts on a show running through defensive lineman and past defensive backs as a ball carries and simply blows past offensive tackles and chases down running backs way downfield as a rush end. He reportedly clocked a sub 4.5 second 40-yard-dash at a camp this year at nearly 270 pounds. Griffen is a true physical freak and there's a chance to play at the Leo end spot opposite Lawrence Jackson for the Trojans this year.

• Jimmy Clausen, Quarterback (Notre Dame) - And finally we arrive at the great Jimmy Clausen. Jimmy has been eyeballed since the middle school days as an elite quarterback prospect and so far has lived up to the billing. He'll go to the Mecca of college football, Notre Dame with expectations far beyond those of another ballyhooed prep slinger, Ron Powlus (ironically, his quarterback coach this year). Clausen is the most polished high school quarterback in ages and has a quirky personality and awesomely bad hairdo. Pair that with the hype and the fact that he's at Notre Dame and the guy is college football's biggest lightning rod ... perhaps ever. And that's before ever having taken a snap. People will most definitely be talking about this guy and so he headlines this list of the top 10 impact recruits of 2007. Video here. A few more videos here.

Alright, there it is, my list of the top 10 impact recruits. Who else should have been on this list? Who would you have omitted. Fire away (within reason).

***
Previous:

Impact National Recruits Part I

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.