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USC Soars Late, Pulls Shocker

Tallahassee Lincoln kids love to flirt, and they're never lacking for suitors. But when push comes to shove, the vast majority of them break hearts and stick with the hometown Seminoles. So it came as a complete shock to many people when highly regarded cornerback T.J. Bryant cast his lot with Pete Carroll and USC.

USC lost out on Alabama linebacker Jerrell Harris, but did pull in Bryant, Michigan linebacker Nick Perry and Los Angeles linebacker Uona Kavienga throughout the second half of the day to slide into 7th place in the Rivals.com rankings. It's been a great month of recruiting overall as USC recently got a pledge from the nation's top player for 2009 in quarterback Matt Barkley along with several other preliminary top 100 recruits. Damn.

Back To The Future

As expertly stated by EDSBS, the top of the recruiting rankings have a certain 1985 feel. Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Miami ... thank heaven for moth balls.

Miscellany

Notre Dame has a great deal to prove on the field after last year's disaster and two consecutive BCS flops. However, the Irish were magnificent in holding together their recruiting class and finding some decent guys in the trenches (at least on defense, anyway). The same can be said for UCLA after the departure of coach Karl Dorrell.

Jumpin' Sam McGuffie briefly flirted with California, but he's come home now and will stick with Michigan.

Nick Saban is not a likable guy. Sometimes he drives his car into trees. He may have even inspired an NCAA recruiting rule. But hoo boy, can the $32 million dollar man recruit.

It helps that their signing class is 32 strong (the NCAA permits a maximum of 25 recruits to sign in any given class - there will be some creative accounting at work to make this class happen), but just the same the 'Tide signed an impressive class.

Among the notables are the nation's #4 player, wide receiver Julio Jones, the nation's #30 player offensive tackle Tyler Love, the nation's #38 player linebacker Jerrell Harris and the nation's #55 player, athlete Mark Barron. The 'Tide also signed Florida quarterback Star Jackson.

Reflecting the athlete first, football player second mentality so prevalent in the SEC, Alabama signed four four-star "athletes" as well as a fifth designated with a fifth star. It was a class loaded with quantity and quality, giving a major boost to second-year coach Nick Saban. For comparison's sake, in-state rival Auburn stands at 20th in the most recent rankings while Saban's former employer LSU registers the nation's 11th-best signing class.

Alabama was just 7-6 last year, but Saban and staff were able to sign players from nine state, as well as Alabama. Overall 14 of Alabama's 32 commits are from out of state, reflecting the program's sudden national pull under Saban.
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As far as I know, USC doesn't bring recruits to the home of Trojans' coach Pete Carroll. Nope, no ping ping is happening there. However, like everyone else in this salesman's game, USC's got a pitch: celebrities and the California lifestyle.

Comedic actor Will Ferrell is a regular on the USC sidelines when not filming spots with players or losing charity swim events against Carroll. Other middling celebrities are often spotted on the Trojan sidelines (Nick Lachey, Alyssa Milano, etc.). They're even in the stands, as "The Fonz" Henry Winkler is a regular. The celeb spotting has also become a recruiting pitch.

USC made sure to sell just that to a linebacker recruit out of the state of Alabama named Jerrell Harris:

The recruiting process has been whirlwind, allowing him to catch a glimpse of socialite Paris Hilton and singer Eve on a recruiting trip to USC.

And so it goes.
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