It just kills me how good USC has been at avoiding the sanctions. It's really a work of art.
In the 2011 class they took 31 commits with 8 EEs bringing them to 23 commits against the 25. The only reason this year wasn't capped at 15 was because of the appeal delaying the impact by 1 year. This was so smart and crucial to their success.
Of their 31 commits, it appears 2 didn't qualify. So that means they only had 21 scholarships counting against their 2011 limit. So in 2012 they could've taken up to 19 kids if 4 were EEs. Instead, they took 15 total kids including 3 EEs. Why? Because they were over their max scholarship number of 75 and needed to trim fat... and there would've been absolutely too much fat to trim if they took 19.
So then they get "transfers" from a bunch of injury prone players including former 5
Patrick Hall and some legitimate transfers like Amir Carlisle. So now they're going to be right at their 75 number and able to take 15 regular kids PLUS up to 3 EEs as NDinLA correctly pointed out.
Then in the 2014 class they will be able to take 15 kids (+/- EEs if they take less than 18 total this year assuming they have, at minimum, 3 EEs). The 2014 and 2015 football seasons will be the first seasons where any "lack of depth" really starts to show up as there will be minimal amounts of upperclassmen. 2015 will be another binge year like 2011 where they take a full 25 kids + EEs if there is room.
But the most interesting thing to me is how they're effectively using JUCOs to side-step the lack of experience/reps that these sanctions should cause them. And it's just so freaking easy with the amount of talent in California's JUCO ranks. USC's best player in last year's class was a 5
JUCO safety. They also added a JUCO corner before that because they had serious depth concerns there. They had also targeted a highly talented JUCO RB signed up in the 2012 class to address their depth issues there but then pulled his scholarship because he blew out his knee.
Their approach is just so well thought out and executed. And it makes me really wish ND would take a couple JUCOs for positions like CB where the depth chart makes you cringe. There are probably a dozen JUCO corners out there with more proven ability than Low Wood, Josh Atkinson, Jalen Brown and Cam McDaniel. Would be nice to have added 1 or 2 after signing to fill open scholarships we have.
