See if you can find a problem with this list below:
Rank these dudes:
Mark Carrier
Kevin Ellison
Ronnie Lott
Taylor Mays
Tim McDonald
TJ McDonald
Dennis Smith
Troy Polamalu— Reign of Troy (@ReignofTroy) June 24, 2019
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Now where is Charles Phillips? He was an All-American in 1974. He had 13 career interceptions. He was a second round pick of the Oakland Raiders.
Where is Artimus Parker? He has 20 career interceptions, the most in USC history. He was a consensus All-American in 1973. Note the word “consensus.”
Kevin Ellison, who was a great Trojan, was not an All-American. T.J. McDonald was an SI.com second-team All-American.
You know how many All-American teams there are today compared to the 1970’s?
Taylor Mays, a three-time All-American, had five interceptions in his career.
Whenever people put lists together these days, there is a danger to always look at the present or recent past.
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
If you want to go really old school, there is Willie Wood. And Dennis Thurman from the mid-1970s.
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’67
Willie Woods played in the early 60’s and Dennis Thurman played after Charlie Phillips. There are too many All American’s that played at SC. How do you rank them. Do you start with Three time All American’s or do you start with Heisman winners that were All American’s? it is a problem to enjoy
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Yes, an embarrassment of riches. Unlike some other local schools…
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Thinking today about the connection between the McKay/Robinson era Trojans and the Raiders, I recalled another great player not often mentioned – Skip “Dr. Death” Thomas (starting CB opposite “Old Man” Willy Brown on Oakland’s 1976 Super Bowl championship team)…
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I was with you Wolfman —until I came to the name Taylor Mays…..
#HitRealHardButOuttaPosition50%OfTime….
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Mays had remarkable physical talents – something like 230 lbs, and a 4.25 40? He never could put it all together.
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And blamed Pete Carroll for it…!
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If the list is skewed toward the present day, then the blogger needs to put up more old school stories of McKay, Goux, the ’74 ND game and all of those other great ’60’s and ’70’s stories where USC won five national titles in a sixteen year span.
#AnthonyDavisWillAlwaysBeATrojanNotALaker
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Great hashtag!
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#Trojan1967Rocks!
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Flow on the troll, trolling other USC websites. At least it’s finally confirmed how he gets his “inside” information.
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Isn’t it okay for Scott to read “Outside USC” stuff? [When it comes to evaluating the info in public domain, btw, Scott is light years ahead of Reign of Troy —-where they just got around to figuring out that we have one or two coaching problems]…….
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They try…and often do a credible, frequently entertaining, job…
But yeah, anyone who can’t get out of “their time”…or confuses style over substance…
Don’t get me wrong, not that these players weren’t amazing, but…their rankings are often amusing…would think that people from an age of metrics would be able to a simple search on college football reference and apply a modicum of reasonable analysis to account for differences between seasons/eras…
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James —The kind of smart rankings you’re talking about would be way too much time and trouble for the folks compiling them….
#They’veJustGottenAroundToRankingFilmTotalsByAdjustedGross….
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Who could believe anything on the interweb?? Wolf? Ha.
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Very nice piece on Clay Helton. I don’t doubt for a minute that the players love him. And he seems worthy of their affection.
I just wish they were a little more scared of him.
#IfHeCanPullOffBeingLoved&FearedWeMightHaveSomething…
#…PeteDidIt
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Hard double to pull off.. much easier to go the chocolate chip route and be hated and feared and have all the kids leaving..
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It is hard to be loved and respected. John McKay didn’t even try —he was the boss. Period. Same with Saban. But both Pete and Urban did pull it off.
#…ItCanBeDone….
#AndClayMightBeTheKindaGuyWhoCouldPullItOff…
#LetGrahamHarrellBeThePlayers’Coach….
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Not so sure about urban. There are many videos of former players whose testimony is less than glowing..
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There are many more of players praising Urban and celebrating with him after games —-and not one second of those videos looks forced or fake. [Plus all ya gotta do is listen to one of his interviews —he seems like everybody’s idea of a great coach —magnetic and personable].
#Nobody’sPerfectButPete&UrbanAreWhatClayNeedsToAimFor
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As a Generation Xer, I have to change and respect what the Millennials and even younger generations have to say and think- to a degree. Hard work and respect will never go out of fashion, but being understanding and compassionate are, for lack of a better term, Christ-like qualities as well.
#LiberalWholovesJesus
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#FireClayHelton
#FireLynnSwann
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Chip 1 – Helton 0
Ding goes the Vic Bell
#SUCCXstinkson
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Jenny making small change while waiting for her Double Whopper with cheese…
Ding goes the drive through alert
J-E-NN-Y-1-9-7-5…
Gerald Ford in the White House
Hank Aaron’s final ride
The Bicentennial being planned
Mao still in charge
No Buccaneers, Seahawks, Panthers, Jaguars, Texans, Ravens
No Mariners, Blue Jays, Rays, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Nationals
No Magic, Hornets, Pelicans, Clippers, Thunder, Raptors, Grizzlies
No half the NHL
WHA, ABA still alive…USFL yet to be born…
Disco and punk not yet a thing, let alone rap
J-E-NN-Y-1-9-7-5…
Don’t ya lose that number!
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Yimmy Auld Quim, you forgot to add:
John Wooden retires after winning 10 NCAA BB NC’s
And Felony U was Then and Now OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO forever.
#Yimmyneedsabulleye
*****************************************UCLA 34 – Felony U 27
DING goes the Vic Bell
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1975 was a great year for you…your best football team since the ’50s, coached by a truly great coach (and yet, even with that, it illustrates the point we’ve made to you previously – your best team could only win in the final minute over John McKay’s worst post-1961 USC team, one that lost four consecutive games and could barely complete a forward pass…and as a further measure of the nature of reality, that worst team beat Notre Dame on the road and shut out highly ranked Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl…and featured a record-setting Ricky Bell)…
Of course, you neglect to add that you have won what…one tainted basketball title since Woody left Westwood? Not to mention the imminent arrival of the scummiest basketball coach in history, Larry Brown…
USC O for…is that you having another little O session with yourself Jenny? Surely you don’t mean 0 for…
Since USC immediately bounced back from a terrible 8-4 season (imagine an 8-4 season being referred to as terrible at UCLA! hee-haw) to win 11 consecutive games including consecutive wins over UCLA, Notre Dame, and Michigan (in the…yeah, you know it…just not first hand)…and national championships…and Heismans…
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James —and, of course you know, McKay had a tying field goal in his pocket against UCLA —-and went for the win instead cuz he thought taking the 3 points was “the cheap way out.”
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Yep – just one of the many admirable things about The Man…did it in two Rose Bowls…from what I’ve read, he did it in his second season and it almost contributed to his getting fired before the magical ’62 season (think it was against a top-ranked Iowa squad)…
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Taylor Mays was one of the worst DB’s I’ve seen at SC. He could hit you like a freight train…..after you’ve caught a pass for 20+ yard and got the 1st down.
People fell for the hype, the physique and the highlight reel hits. But the NFL didn’t.
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Clay Helton has been at USC going on 10 years now and during that time how many All Americans has he been able to coach up with all the Top 10 recruiting classes USC has allowed him to work with?
The answer is…none.
Clay Helton will never be anything other than a second rate coach.
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Clay Helton has been at USC going on 10 years now and during that time how many All Americans has he been able to coach up with all the Top 10 recruiting classes USC has allowed him to work with?
The answer is…none.
Clay Helton will never be anything other than a second rate coach.
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Just Rent,
Reminder, Thug U aka ruinville aka ugly aka dumpville never won a championship basketball game. They were all bought and paid for by Sam Gilbert and Jim Harrick.
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