FOOTBALL

Star Don’t Always Equal Success

Studies have shown college teams with more four-and-five star prospects have better results.

But look at the five-stars (per 247) USC signed in the past six years: Chuma Edoga, Rasheem Green, Iman Marshall, Osa Masina, Oluwole Betiku, Jack Jones, Stephen Carr, Joseph Lewis, JT Daniels, Palaie Gaoteote, Olaijah Griffin and Amon Ra St. Brown.

Now some of these players were not five-stars by Rivals, (Carr, Masina, Lewis, Betiku) but nevertheless it’s safe to say USC hasn’t gotten the most out of its five stars recently.

47 thoughts on “Star Don’t Always Equal Success”

  2. Gomer & Co can take any five star and make them a 3 star or worse in no time, that’s why getting excited over USC recruiting anyone with talent as long as Gomer is in charge is a waste of time.

    Liked by 4 people

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  3. it is both a lack of player development and a lack of effective schemes to put the players in the best place to succeed.

    my biggest concern is that the team improves enough to keep helton in place, but that the team can never truly live up to the player potential with the head coach.

    sc fans remain united in their quest for a new HC

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Flip? Only if the running games make a complete return to the USC offense. I have a feeling the running game will make an improvement this coming season…

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. That’s what they said about Korey and Raesjon too tho. Here’s hoping you’re right and they show improvement on that side of the ball too.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Like

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  5. Stars? The only stars USC sees are the ones orbiting Slovis’s head after the line breaks down in the third quarter.
    Like anything in football, recruiting is a crapshoot. The stars only indicate the big fish in the little ponds. Many good players go unnoticed because their school doesn’t exist in a league deemed worthy of recruiting. Fontana’s Kaiser high school Quarterback helped win in CIF playoffs, but is going to Weber State. He has talent but doesn’t play for a private high school.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Yes.
      #Please”BeatTheBruins”
      [We SHOULD win, Pudly —unless the basketball gods just aren’t with us and the shots don’t fall]……
      #ThenIGuessWe’dBothHaveToRunAwayFromHome…
      #…AndTurnTheSiteOverToOwns….
      #[No,OnSecondThought……]

      Liked by 2 people

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      2. It would double down on a ghost site, since owns was tossed out of every gutty site that existed. Once he left, their memberships dropped 20%.

        Liked by 2 people

  7. Chuma, Rasheem, Biggie, Amon-Ra, and OG started as Freshmen and played all three years ( or close to it). Osa, Lewis, and Jack- Jack had run-ins with the law (they are, after all, 18,- 19 year olds). Kedon cancels JT, as does Ma’auga cancel Gaoteote. I’d say that this list is awash with a good percentage of 5 Stars making it.
    Bru looks like the real deal ( despite the dropped ball against the Ducks).The jury is out on Kyle Ford -injuries being his challenge.

    False Narrative again, Wolf.

    Liked by 4 people

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    1. ..but the best kind of false narrative….the 50% true “false narrative”….
      #AndLet’sNotLetOsaOffTOOEasilyByVirtueOf”Being19″….

      Liked by 3 people

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    2. No one mentions Austin Jackson, 1st rd or AVT, probable 1st or Jay Tufele nor Marlon Tuipulotu both probably 2nd or better but no worse than 3rd. And of course that louse of a defender so easily forgotten, Talanoa Hufanga who was just wrecked. That’s what? Two years.. oops forgot Pittman, how’d I do that, shameful! I must have an agenda.

      Liked by 3 people

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      1. Good list, Pudly. All these guys were 5 Star recruits in one recruiting service or another and were all terrific players. At the very least, they were high 4 Star players.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. This works the other way around as well. Take the 6 offensive linemen who enrolled last year:
    Four star – Jonah Monheim
    Three star – Casey Collier, Andres Dewerk, Courtland Ford, Andrew Milek, Caadyn Stephen

    I believe the reason 3 stars were given to Collier, Dewerk, Ford, Milek and Stephen is that they were not in big time HS football programs and/or were in less populated areas. We don’t know what the performance level of these players might be. As a group I believe they are very athletic for their size. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of these OL were candidates to start at SC or develop into NFL players. The most important factor seems to be consistency – many can block a few plays but 40+ offensive snaps a game is more difficult and depends on the opposition. I am looking forward to how this squad develops.

    Liked by 4 people

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      3. I believe that Courtland was a 5 star at one point but got hurt and his ranking went down. I would assume he would be in the mix for LT this year. I thought Jason Rodriguez would have been a little further along by now as well.

        Liked by 3 people

      6. If I can find some of his footwork workouts his father has posted, showing that his injury wasn’t as serious as said, I’ll post. He’s got great footwork.

        Liked by 2 people

      9. First clip is pretty amazing. That’s the kind of footwork I (never) saw during the QB drills when J. T. was on the team…..

        Liked by 2 people

      10. If only it was talent and skill alone that guaranteed success….but as we’ve all seen, that’s not enough. There will probably have been 3 out of five from this offensive line group drafted by next year when their eligibility expires. Voorhees will probably go in some middle round, yet they haven’t played well as a group.

        Liked by 2 people

      11. His footwork is over the top. Based on that video, you could imagine him guarding (insert NBA player name here) and not getting beat.

        Liked by 2 people

      14. Posting 2 videos below. One is Slovis highlights, the other is Mack Jones (‘Bama QB) highlights, in order to see differences in O line protection (on successful throws).

        Seems that Jones probably has on average about 1/2 – 1 more second to throw if needed. I also see more play-action from Jones, and changes in the snap count, both of which seem to buy him much more time.

        You will also see that both guys can really throw.

        Liked by 2 people

      15. 67,
        Slovis, with little time to throw, was hitting guys short and long. UCLA wasn’t in position on most of those completions. He could have probably done the same thing against Oregon’s MUCH better defensive backs IF he had a little more time to see where he was throwing —but the combination of poor protection AND first rate defenders was more than he (or anybody) could handle.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. A few weeks ago, I was doing a little research on Iowa State’s OL (an OL that dominated the Ducks in their bowl game win) and noticed that all of their starting OL played OT in high school- most , if not all, LT. LTs are the OLines best linemen. All those guys on your list played either RT or LT in high school. This group has potential.

      Liked by 3 people

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      1. Yes….you’re right…. he does enjoy better protection…..
        #…About85%OfTheTime….
        #…And,Yes,ThatMatters…..
        #…WhichIsWhyDrevnoDidn’tRecruitOrCoachForSaban

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Michael, yes they are able to give Jones more time than Slovis has. Without much time to throw, this leads me to think that having Slovis going over the various progressions against an 8 man zone is not the road to happiness…

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Ha! “The road to happiness.” One of my 2 favorite ‘sure- to- elicit- a- smile’ phrases. [The other being “Your wife does not share that opinion”]……

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes, that’ll be a GOOD day. But…. the BEST day might be the day AFTER Clay gets fired —with Bohn running into Folt’s office saying, “Campus Police have spotted Helton in the parking lot…he looks mad… and he’s carrying some kind of bat or something with nails sticking out…”

      Like

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