FOOTBALL

USC Sunday Buzz: The Recruiting Pipelines Are Dry

It’s a sign of USC recruiting that players from Mater Dei or Serra, once pipelines for talent, are headed to other schools.

Wide receiver LV Bunkley-Shelton of Serra chose Arizona State over USC on Saturday. (Cue the “he was scared off by the receivers already at USC” chorus).

“The flood gates are open,” a rival Pac-12 coach told me Saturday.

Oregon and Arizona State already have campaigns touting their California recruiting. LSU just got Mater Dei linebacker Raesjon Davis, a top Class of 2021 prospect.

It’s hard to make a case recruiting will get dramatically better with Clay Helton coaching on year-to-year basis.

  • Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa and Nick Saban will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. (PT) Monday to reveal his plans for next season. Check to see if the Alabama band will be there. The USC band showed up when Matt Barkley announced he would return. There was no band at the famous Mark Sanchez–Pete Carroll press conference.

47 thoughts on “USC Sunday Buzz: The Recruiting Pipelines Are Dry”

  4. The biggest mistake Sanchez ever made was not inviting the band. If memory serves he tried out for Seahawks without a band too. What’s with this guy and bands?

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Something tells me that the Mater Dei pipeline might be shut off ifor a while. Mater Dei has become a transfer Haven for high school football players and these players are used to being catered to and getting what they want. A little adversity and into the transfer portal they go- high school or college. Oregon, ASU, and others offer immediate play time as their rosters aren’t as loaded as SC’s. What happened to learning and earning the position and, at the same time, saving a little on the wear and tear on your body? How many USC backups have gone on to big things in the NFL. If I were a top high school player, I’d want my best years to be as a pro and not peak in college.

    Liked by 4 people

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  6. If Carol Folt said Urban Meyer was “radioactive” as a college football coach then it would be fair to say Clay Helton is “radioactive” when it comes to USC recruiting.

    #ClayHeltonIsWorseThanPaulHackettIMHO

    #HeyBlogger,HowAboutAStatisticalW-LAndRecruitingComparisonBetweetHeltonAndHackett

    #WorstUSCHeadCoachEver

    Liked by 5 people

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    1. Hackett did leave a loaded roster that included Carson Palmer, Groetegoed, Justin Fargas, and Troy pPolamolu. Coaching made all the difference.

      Liked by 7 people

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      1. If Helton is all about “Faith, Family, Football” then he is going to leave an empty church for the next guy.

        #HeltonIsTestingMyFaith

        Liked by 7 people

    2. It’s a mistake to say he’s the worst ever. Among modern coaches, Hackett holds that title securely…..
      #Isn’tItEnoughToSayHe’sIncompetent?
      #NoArgumentThere

      Liked by 4 people

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      2. MG, I’d say Hackett was better because if you look at the scores of the games (1998 – 2000) Hackett almost never got blown out. They were mostly close losses even in big games.

        But when Helton loses in big games, he gets trucked. No doubt about it.

        #IfHackettHadTheDeerInHeadlightsLook,HeltonIsTheRoadkillWhoNeverHadAChanceAgainstTheTractorTrailer

        Liked by 6 people

      6. MG- I stand corrected: The streak ended in ’96 and the Hack- man coached in ‘ 99 and 2000.

        What a way to end and start the new millennium.

        Liked by 4 people

      7. Yes – JRob II ended streak in ’96 (he always had the Midas touch where the NonDonnaShilalas were concerned)…OT game as I recall (Willie McGinnest team?)…

        Liked by 2 people

    3. Helton had Sam, JuJu, RoJo, Adoree, and a bunch of highly recruited supporting cast members, plus Stevie T as a transfer…and barely went 10-3 2nd in the Pac 12 South…wouldn’t be so quick to rate him ahead of Hackett…plus Hackett flatlined…Helton shows no sign of ending the free fall…

      Liked by 5 people

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      1. If Hackett flatlined, then someone needs to pull the plug on Helton now.

        #DoNotResuscitate

        #I’mJustGettingTiredOfUSCDoingBadEverywhereBecauseOfHelton

        Liked by 7 people

    1. If Oregon is really looking to Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman to “save” them next year (Phil Steele only rated him an average ACC QB), and with Petersen out at Washington, things may finally line up right for Cal.. if they can stay healthy.

      Liked by 4 people

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    2. Musgrave is a great hire by Wilcox.
      Cal should really shake up the Pac 12 North!
      With some top flight WR and RB, Wilcox should expect 28-34 ppg.
      However, Musgrave seems to be a journeyman…..

      My how the worm has turned, HC CH.

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    2. When you think about it —Folt likes to hang her hat on intangible stuff like “integrity” rather than stuff that’s measurable like win/loss columns…..
      #…She’llWindUpClaimingSuccessInAreasW/OMetrics….
      #….StuffLike”Pride”And”Compassion”

      Liked by 2 people

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  9. Narbonne High School, an LAUSD school where I happen to teach (elementary) , was slowly becoming a pipeline as well until the school was sanctioned after having used ineligible players. The penalties included having to forfeit games, forfeit a CIF state title, and are not eligible for post season play. A player exodus, and perhaps another pipeline with it, will soon follow.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Where were you? These are the ‘elementary schools’ : Harbor City (aka 256th)? Lomita Magnet? Normont? Eshelmann?

      Serra HS is still going strong but no more ‘tuition free rides’s for atheletes.

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  10. I would say Helton is unique among bad Trojan coaches in the following 2 areas:

    (1) Obfuscation, pretending, and suck-up (I don’t recall Hackett giving “Coach Mike Garrett” a game ball).

    (2) Unwilling to address his own deficiencies and make sensible changes – he just keeps doubling down on the same proven failures.

    Liked by 4 people

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  11. Used to be that when SC lost a player, he became a Bruin. What happened in Westwood?

    #deflectinglikeapolitician
    #todaysplayersdontemphasizeeducation

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. For me, Garrett is WAY greater than Haden, Swann or Bohn —-
      #GarrettMayNotHaveBeenWhatTheUSCElitesWanted….
      #ButHeWasWhatTheyNeeded
      #[HeJustNeededALegalDepartmentThatBackedHimUp]….

      Liked by 4 people

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  13. Still pissed at the idiotic, feminist, sexist and #metoo pandering statement by our ‘esteemed’ and integrity-obsessed president, Carol Folt, “Urban Meyer is radioactive.”

    If ‘integrity’ is all that matters, then keeping an incompetent [Helton] to manage the football program goes against the very definition. Face it Ms. Folt, you kept Helton because you can control him, and because you don’t feel like paying his sorry ass the $20 mil it’ll take to get rid of him. And, in the process, you managed you humiliate and castrate your newly-hired AD in the process. How’s that for ‘integrity’ and ‘radioactive’ at the same time? Practice what you preach madam. USC will never regain any semblance of national significance in CFB while Clay Helton remains as head coach. And, recruiting… well – players these days are considering ‘integrity’ to be much more than just 4 years free education, and a chance to play CFB. They’re also looking to be coached and developed in order to move-on to the next level – the NFL. Helton, can hardly manage to put a pac12-competitive team out there – develop talent? No freakin’ way.

    Congratulations. Thanks to you, USC has no ‘integrity’ and is now ‘radioactive’ to not only recruits, but the media, former players and loyal fans. Might want to check how USC is doing in the area of cancelled season tickets for the 2020 CFB season, because what’s been going-on out here in ‘little people land’ is a revolt of epic proportions. This ain’t UNC, and you are sadly mistaken if you think that sub-par performance and incompetence goes unnoticed by those of us loyal to USC.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Based upon how you guys have portrayed Presidanté Folt…she is not exactly radiation free. How she can call Meyer ‘radioactive’ is kinda….well……
      #BravoSierra

      Liked by 2 people

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