Thursday Thought

Garry Paskwietz

Biggest Get - Seantrel Henderson 

This is assuming all gets worked out with him.  Seantrel is as good as any offensive lineman I've seen in a while and you can't underestimate how much a guy like that can change things for an offense.

Biggest Miss - Ronald Powell

There's a reason why Powell sits atop the current ESPN player rankings, it's because he is really good.  You don't like losing players who are that good, especially from your own backyard.

Biggest Surprise - Hayes Pullard

This kid kept things close to the vest as well as any player in the class.  It was pretty unanimous in recruiting circles that he would be headed to UCLA right up until the point when he announced for USC.
 
Overall Thoughts
 
First and foremost, the class will be viewed two different ways; with Seantrel or without Seantrel.  So far he hasn't sent in his letter of intent as he wants to wait to find out about possible sanctions.  OK, I can't blame him for that.  However, this certainly puts a little more of a spotlight on that NCAA meeting since the fate of Henderson is riding on it.  As far as the rest of the class, I love the skill players on offense, especially the receivers.  What an amazing group of pass catchers.  I also think Uko is going to be a beast in the middle of the d-line.  I'm a little surprised we didn't get more than one safety.  There were a lot of good safeties in this class, we didn't really need more than one but with so many good ones out there it would have been nice to grab one more. I wish Matt Darr had stayed. I'm not going to worry about Darr too much though, too much other good stuff to focus on with this class.  Kudos to Kiffin and staff for the work they did in bringing this class home. 

Erik McKinney

Biggest Get – Robert Woods

Obviously adding Seantrel Henderson late Wednesday was huge and this pick doesn’t mean that I think the big left tackle will head elsewhere.  But for me, the biggest get is the best player in the class, and with all due respect to Henderson, and Dillon Baxter, and Kyle Prater, and D.J. Morgan, and Xavier Grimble… it’s Woods.  You have to score points to win games and the Trojans haven’t had an automatic six gamebreaker since Reggie Bush.  Woods could be that guy.

Biggest Miss – Ronald Powell

There’s nothing better than watching your defense put constant pressure on a quarterback and Ronald Powell would have done that for the Trojans during his entire career.  Throw in the fact that he jumped from California to Florida and I think it’s easily the biggest miss in this class.

Biggest Surprise – Dietrich Riley

Riley had been a USC lean or commit for over a year and a last minute change of heart landed him across town with the Bruins.

Overall Thoughts

There’s no denying the USC staff did a tremendous job of keeping the class together and adding a few huge pieces at the end.  Everyone wants to talk about the limited time (21 days) this staff had to work with, but what about the additional weight of recruiting without a full coaching staff and the uphill climb of recruiting against other coaches constantly throwing the idea of NCAA sanctions at recruits?  For a team that has succeeded without a true game changer for the past several seasons, the Trojans may have added a small army of them in this class.  Throw in a couple of bodies at linebacker and offensive line and this staff set themselves up nicely to tread water at those spots until they can make a huge splash in 2011.  The situation with Seantrel Henderson isn’t all that worrisome at this point.  If USC could hang onto the big lineman through a coaching change and some last minute pushes from other schools, they should have no problem keeping him in the fold as long as the NCAA doesn’t come down too hard in late February.  

Greg Katz

Biggest Get - Seantrel Henderson

The Franchise. Reminds us of a young Anthony Munoz, another great football/basketball combination.

Biggest Miss - Dietrich Riley

Great two-way versatile performer who claimed USC was his dream school.

Biggest Surprise – Nickell Robey to USC, Dietrich Riley and Josh Shirley to UCLA

Overall Thoughts 

This was a very good class, especially offensively, that could get better if some that didn’t make a commitment do so. However, there is still much concern over the lack of depth of offensive linemen and quantity and quality of linebackers.

Clifton Blevins

Biggest Get - Seantrel Henderson 

It would have to be the "SS Henderson" out of Minnesota.
OT Seantrel Henderson made everyone's day by selecting the Trojans.

Biggest Miss - Jackson Jeffcoat 

DE Jackson Jeffcoat was a prospect that SC had a real shot at until the departure of the previous Trojan coaching staff. I think Jeffcoat is
an immediate impact player.

Biggest Surprise - Josh Shirley 

LB Josh Shirley turning down the Trojans to play across town.

Overall Thoughts 

After being dealt a tough hand late in the recruiting process, Lane Kiffin and staff did a remarkable job not only convincing previous verbal commits to stay with SC, but also maintaining their relationships with other recruits they recruited while at Tennessee. And after a full year to recruit, this staff will again hit a home run in 2011.