Pac-10 football recruiting wrap-up and ranking Part II

For numbers 10 through six be sure to check out Pac-10 football recruiting wrap-up and ranking Part I.

5) Stanford
Stanford certainly added another strong class and is one step closer to their quest for a Pac-10 championship. Listen, these next few years we will see Stanford at or near the top.

This team has added a couple of 4-star QB’s that will get in the mix and they’ve certainly bolstered their defense with the likes of defensive end Blake Lueders, safety Devon Carrington, and others.

4) Oregon
The Ducks did have a nice recruiting class and were looking to add more speed. Huh? Was that even possible? Of course it was.

The Ducks’ biggest recruits included 5-star running back Lache Seastrunk 5-star defensive end Curtis White, and 4-star defensive tackle Ricky Heimuli. Sure there were other 4-star studs signed, but there three are some of the bigger gets.

Seastrunk was the fourth highest rated running back in the nation, and he can get up and move. He will certainly fit in nicely with the speed at which the Oregon offense is run.

White should be able to bulk up (and hopefully not lose much quickness) and be at beast on the defensive side of the ball.

Heimuli really shocked most everyone by choosing Oregon over UCLA Washington and Utah (his home state team), but it’s a good thing he did. Earlier, defensive studs Gabe King, Chris McCain and Bjoern Werner, three Oregon hopefuls, selected other schools.

3) UCLA
The Bruins sure added a good class. They’re another team that I expect to see at or near the top of the Pac-10 in the next couple of years.

UCLA grabbed a couple of good USC recruits in linebacker Josh Shirley and safety Dietrich Riley — just what the doctor ordered for a crosstown rivalry.

They also managed to lure 5-star defensive stud Owamagbe Odighizuwa away from Oregon State and Nebraska. Honestly, I thought the kid might be headed to Nebraska.

2) Cal
Cal did a great job of recruiting. The only real question is, “will they convert to wins.”

Seems that Cal gets themselves touted as being one of the top Pac-10 teams before the season, but then they fade off in to the sunset before doing much damage in the conference.

Defensive guys like Gabe King, Chris McCain, Cecil Whiteside, Dave Wilkerson and the number five overall prospect Keenan Allen are one of the reasons I ranked Cal is high as I did. I think these guys are going to get Cal to turn the corner and actually be a top-ranked Pac-10 team at season’s end — not just pre-season.

1) USC
That’s right, Pete Carroll left and USC still pulls in the top recruiting class. Seems that only some of the Carroll recruits actually decided to bolt to another school.

First-year Trojans coach Lane Kiffin reeled in the number one or two (depends on who is doing the rating) overall recruit Seantrel Henderson. Henderson did commit, but has not signed. He has said he’d like to wait to see what, if anything, the NCAA will do with their ongoing investigation of the football team.

The Trojans hauled in mostly 4 and 5-star recruits as usual, many of whom are on the offensive side of the ball. But they also managed the big studs on the much in need of help defense.

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 Pac-10 football recruiting wrap-up and ranking Part I

I’ve sifted through much of the information and went on to rank the 2010 recruiting classes.

Let me start off by saying I do realize these rankings mean very little and the kids will have to prove themselves on the field. Many of them may not have an impact for the next year or two.

So let’s get on with the rankings.

10) Washington State
Coach Wulff has a long way to go before the Washington State Cougars are going to be competitive again in the Pac-10. But each year it helps to get some fresh meat on the team who just might make an impact on the turn-around.

This season it’s C.J. Mizell out of Florida. Mizell is a four-star linebacker and  I was really surprised when the Cougs announced his letter of intent. A kid like Mizell will do wonders for the Cougs defense — that is if he’s around long. Seems the kid has had some real issues in the past including legal and academic.

Mizell originally signed with the 2009 Florida State recruiting class.

9) Oregon State
No real surprise here as the Beavers generally rank low when it comes to recruiting. But you know what? I don’t think the Beavs really care where they rank in recruiting as long as they put a solid product on the field that wins.

The Beavs didn’t have any really eye-popping recruits sign, but again, that’s just not the Beavers way typically.

The one who was committed that may hurt them is defensive tackle Happy Iona as it looks like he’s going to end up at a junior college due to academics.

The one who wasn’t committed and really hurt the Beavs is defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa. He’s an Oregon native who had Oregon State, along with Nebraska and UCLA, on his short list — he chose UCLA.

Linebacker Shaydon Akuna is Hawaii’s number one rated high school player. And let’s face it, Hawaii puts out some big, tough kids that come to play.

Arizona
This is another recruiting class that just doesn’t have many big names. The Wildcats really needed to fill some holes — mostly on defense. And that’s what it looks like they were trying to do.

There is one “name” in the class — it’s McKnight. As in USC running back Joe McKnight’s younger brother, Jonathan. Jonathan is a cornerback and doesn’t seem to be quite the athlete Joe is.

7) Arizona State
The Sun Devils went out and signed 26 players for the 2010 class. Of those 26 there were six junior college transfers. That’s right, six. Dennis Erickson needs to win right away and doesn’t have to for player development. This could be the year that Erickson is really in the hot seat his team doesn’t make some noise in the Pac-10.

Of those six j.c. transfers five are on the offensive side of the ball. Makes sense to me since the Sun Devils offense ranked ninth in the conference last season. Oh, and the 20 kids who aren’t j.c. transfers — 15 of them are on the offensive side of the ball as well. Do you see the pattern here?

6) Washington
How can anyone not like what Steve Sarkisian is doing with the Huskies? He’s bringing a winning attitude back to the once proud purple and gold and getting the fans, administration and Huskies players to buy in to what he’s teaching. More importantly (because it’s the future) he’s able to get potential recruits to buy in to him and the system as well.

It’s been a few years since the Huskies have really seen a class so well-rounded — and with talent — roll in to town.

Unlike Arizona State, which had six j.c. transfers, Washington has zero. And it’s a big class, too, with 30 total new recruits. Sarkisian is really making his mark with this class.

Yes, Jake Locker is returning for for the 2010 season. And that bodes well for one of the young QB recruits — Nick Montana. Montana is Washington’s future and having a year to learn under Locker will do wonders. Oh, and did we mention Nick is the son of NFL great and Hall of Famer Joe Montana? Yeah, that probably doesn’t hurt.

It sounds as though the Huskies are expecting safety Sean Parker to get plenty of playing time right away and get into the starting lineup.

For numbers five through one be sure to check out Pac-10 football recruiting wrap-up and ranking Part II.

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 Lane Kiffin to leave Tennessee Volunteers for USC Trojans job – ESPN Los Angeles

Are you kidding me? The USC soap opera continues on. Not even a days rest to take in the already whirlwind events.

Kiffin brings his father, Monte Kiffin, to USC as defensive coordinator and is currently in the works of bringing Norm Chow back to USC (currently with UCLA) as the offensive coordinator.

I’ll tell you what — it sounds as though it’s going to be an impressive staff.

Lane Kiffin to leave Tennessee Volunteers for USC Trojans job – ESPN Los Angeles.

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 Reports: USC’s Pete Carroll target by Seahawks as head coach.

Update: 1/8/2010 @ 5:09 PDT
The L.A. Times is reporting Pete Carroll and the Seahawks are getting close to an agreement. A deal reportedly for five years at $7million/per and for Carroll to become head coach and team president.

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Several reports are surfacing that USC head football coach Pete Carroll is being targeted by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks to fill their vacant head coach position. Earlier today Jim Mora was fired as the Seahawks head coach after only one year in which his team went 5-11.

More importantly are reports that Pete Carroll is actually seriously interested in the position in Seattle. It’s also being reported by various outlets that Carroll is trying to convince current USC offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates to join him in Seattle under the same title.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen says of the report of Carroll to Seattle, “It is expected to happen.”

Scott Wolf of Inside USC from the Daily News is sending tweets out that he’s hearing Carroll is also pursuing the Trojans offensive line coach Pat Ruel.

Pete Carroll previous stints as head coach in the NFL came with the New York Jets and the New England Patriots. In 1994 he coached the Jets to a 6-10 record after starting 6-4. He was fired after only one season.

His next NFL head coach stop was from 1997-1999 with the Patriots during which time the team was 27-21 overall. The Patriots reached the playoff during Carroll’s first two years with a 1-2 record.

It wasn’t until the 2001 season that Carroll took over the head coaching position for USC where he was much more successful. In the nine season he’s been with the Trojans Carroll has on overall record of 97-19 and a conference record of 62-14. The Trojans won the conference title for seven straight years from 2002-2008. During those seven season Carroll’s teams finished no lower than fourth in the final polls. They also won two national championships during the 2003 and 2004 seasons (2003 was a split national championship with the LSU Tigers).

So with all of the success Carroll has had (is having) at USC why would he want to leave?

Well, the Seahawks happen to be owned by the 32nd richest person in the world — Paul Allen. With a personal net-worth of approximately $10.5 billion money is not an issue with the organization. And Paul Allen has showed time-and-again he is not afraid to spend when he feels necessary. I’m sure Pete Carroll would be paid handsomely should he choose to bolt to Seattle.

Also, there are reports that the Seahawks are willing to give Carroll at least some portion of GM type control — if not making him GM/coach outright. That kind of control is also something Carroll would covet.

He’s a west coast guy. Carroll was born in the Bay area, attended college in California, and, of course, has had his most head coaching success in southern California with USC.

And let’s not forget that while USC has been very successful under Pete Carroll, there is this 9-4 season which many are calling devastating. There’s also the Joe McKnight investigation, which brings back the Reggie Bush saga. Why would Carroll want to be a part of all that. Perhaps he’s looking to get out of town before the shit hits the fan. And why not, he wouldn’t be the first player and/or coach to do so from USC.

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 Report: Corp to transfer to Richmond – Pac-10 Blog – ESPN

According to ESPN’s Ted Miller and others USC QB Aaron Corp will transfer to Richmond.

It seems Corp is certainly not happy being a backup — even in USC’s system.

I’m curious, though, if USC didn’t hadn’t lost four games this season and they were still the mighty Trojans of yesterday would Corp still be compelled to make the transfer?

Report: Corp to transfer to Richmond – Pac-10 Blog – ESPN.

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