irishunclebill
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Is the Reggie Bush investigation finally beginning to negatively impact USC recruiting?
The surprising commitment to Michigan of Long Beach Poly elite CB, Donovan Warren, is starting to create rumbles that this may be true. Warren is a huge upset pickup for Michigan, and his commitment has to be a tremendous shock for USC and their fans, who routinely grab the best players from Long Beach Poly. In his comments after the commitment, Warren did not indicate that the investigation factored in any way in his decision. However, it was reported that as little as two weeks ago, before the latest Bush allegations surfaced, that Warren had told recruiting analysts that he had already “secretly committed” to USC, meaning he had privately told the USC coaching staff that it was his intention to go to USC. So is it just a coincidence that Warren changed his mind after the last Bush story, or is there more to it?
USC is sitting on only 14 recruits this year, and has received only 1 commit in the last 4 weeks, and that was from current USC player Steve Smith’s brother, Malcolm. They are still listed as being in contention for 4 of the last 18 elite uncommitted recruits, but are not considered a clear cut favorite for any of them. Rivals “experts” now have RoJo going to USC, but they also had John Brown going to Alabama, instead of Florida, and Warren going to USC, instead of Michigan, so their track record is not too reliable right now. Joe McKnight is supposed to be 50/50 between LSU & USC, but USC already has an elite RB recruit in Marc Tyler, and McKnight may not want to share the spotlight. They do look like they will pick up a Rivals 4 star DE, Christian Tupou from Sacramento, but he is not even listed in the Rivals 250, and Scout only gives him 3 stars. 11 of the 14 current commits are considered elite recruits as they are listed as Top 100 on at least one of the five major recruiting boards. However, it appears that they will lose one of the 11, RB Broderick Green, on signing day as Green is considered to be a very shaky “soft verbal”. There are other weaknesses in this class as well. Similar to Florida, they have yet to sign an elite WR recruit. Their only WR recruit, Brandon Carswell, is a Rivals 4 star, but is not even listed in the Rivals 250. They also have only 1 Defensive Backfield recruit, and 2 Offensive Line recruits, recruiting areas that they usually dominate.
USC may end up with a class of only 13 or 14 recruits. This is compared to an average recruiting class of 23 over the past 4 years. 14 recruits is pretty thin, no matter how talented they are, and if USC does not get any of the last 4 elite that they are chasing, there is probably going to be a lot of talk about the “Bush effect”. Of course if they end up getting both RoJo and McKnight, such talk will be muted. It should be interesting to see how it plays out in the next 6 days, but for ND fans it seems there may be hope that USC’s reign of national recruiting domination may finally be coming to an end.
The surprising commitment to Michigan of Long Beach Poly elite CB, Donovan Warren, is starting to create rumbles that this may be true. Warren is a huge upset pickup for Michigan, and his commitment has to be a tremendous shock for USC and their fans, who routinely grab the best players from Long Beach Poly. In his comments after the commitment, Warren did not indicate that the investigation factored in any way in his decision. However, it was reported that as little as two weeks ago, before the latest Bush allegations surfaced, that Warren had told recruiting analysts that he had already “secretly committed” to USC, meaning he had privately told the USC coaching staff that it was his intention to go to USC. So is it just a coincidence that Warren changed his mind after the last Bush story, or is there more to it?
USC is sitting on only 14 recruits this year, and has received only 1 commit in the last 4 weeks, and that was from current USC player Steve Smith’s brother, Malcolm. They are still listed as being in contention for 4 of the last 18 elite uncommitted recruits, but are not considered a clear cut favorite for any of them. Rivals “experts” now have RoJo going to USC, but they also had John Brown going to Alabama, instead of Florida, and Warren going to USC, instead of Michigan, so their track record is not too reliable right now. Joe McKnight is supposed to be 50/50 between LSU & USC, but USC already has an elite RB recruit in Marc Tyler, and McKnight may not want to share the spotlight. They do look like they will pick up a Rivals 4 star DE, Christian Tupou from Sacramento, but he is not even listed in the Rivals 250, and Scout only gives him 3 stars. 11 of the 14 current commits are considered elite recruits as they are listed as Top 100 on at least one of the five major recruiting boards. However, it appears that they will lose one of the 11, RB Broderick Green, on signing day as Green is considered to be a very shaky “soft verbal”. There are other weaknesses in this class as well. Similar to Florida, they have yet to sign an elite WR recruit. Their only WR recruit, Brandon Carswell, is a Rivals 4 star, but is not even listed in the Rivals 250. They also have only 1 Defensive Backfield recruit, and 2 Offensive Line recruits, recruiting areas that they usually dominate.
USC may end up with a class of only 13 or 14 recruits. This is compared to an average recruiting class of 23 over the past 4 years. 14 recruits is pretty thin, no matter how talented they are, and if USC does not get any of the last 4 elite that they are chasing, there is probably going to be a lot of talk about the “Bush effect”. Of course if they end up getting both RoJo and McKnight, such talk will be muted. It should be interesting to see how it plays out in the next 6 days, but for ND fans it seems there may be hope that USC’s reign of national recruiting domination may finally be coming to an end.
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