Ranking the 20 best 2023 recruits to sign in the Pac-12
Zachary Neal (Ducks Wire/Yahoo Sports) — “So who made up those 5-stars in the Pac-12, and what other players went down as the highest-rated recruits in the conference during this cycle? Here’s a look at the top 20 guys who signed out west in the 2023 cycle…”
Most Players in Top 20
USC Trojans (7)
Oregon Ducks (7)
Colorado Buffaloes (2)
UCLA Bruins (1)
Oregon State Beavers (1)
Arizona State Sun Devils (1)
Utah Utes (1)
Most Players in Top 10
USC Trojans (4)
Oregon Ducks (3)
Top 20
1 — WR Zachariah Branch (USC Trojans, above photo)
2 — QB Dante Moore (UCLA Bruins)
3 — QB Malachi Nelson (USC Trojans)
4 — CB Cormani McClain (Colorado Buffaloes)
5 — WR Jurrion Dickey (Oregon Ducks)
6 — WR Makai Lemon (USC Trojans)
7 — EDGE Matayo Uiagalelei (Oregon Ducks)
8 — QB Jaden Rashada (Arizona State Sun Devils)
9 — EDGE Braylan Shelby (USC Trojans)
10 — CB Rodrick Pleasant (Oregon Ducks)
11 — OT Spencer Fano (Utah Utes)
12 — LB Tackett Curtis (USC Trojans)
13 — TE Kenyon Sadiq (Oregon Ducks)
14 — CB Daylen Austin (Oregon Ducks)
15 — TE Walker Lyons (USC Trojans)
16 — QB Austin Novosad (Oregon Ducks)
17 — RB Dante Dowdell (Oregon Ducks)
18 — QB Aiden Chiles (Oregon State Beavers)
19 — RB Dylan Edwards (Colorado Buffaloes)
20 — RB Quinten Joyner (USC Trojans)
Yahoo Sports
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Two Heismans in the House
Brady’s plan
https://twitter.com/i/status/1622664508987645955
BREAKING: ORE’s Adrian Klemm leaves Ducks to take coaching job with New England Patriots Zachary Neal (Ducks Wire) — Reports have been swirling for the past couple of weeks that Oregon Ducks associate head coach and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm was flirting with the idea of taking a job on the New England Patriots coaching staff, and the news of his move finally came out on Monday morning, per a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Klemm (an OL for the Patriots from 2000-2004), who initially interviewed for the offensive coordinator job under Bill Belichick in New England, will reportedly take… Read more »
Oregon, the end of the earth where coaches go to jump off. They are not honest about it and leave the players hanging. What a dump.
QB Jaden Rashada’s unprecedented recruitment: Bidding wars and how a 4-star signal-caller went from $13.85 million to no NIL deal Stewart Mandel and Andy Staples — (His Gator Collective) contract, which was obtained by The Athletic, would have paid Jaden Rashada a staggering $13.85 million over four years, starting with a $500,000 payment on Dec. 5, in return for minimal NIL services such as posting on social media and autographing items. The contract also states that the collective can “in its sole and absolute discretion” terminate the agreement “without penalty or further obligation.” Then, in mid-January, Rashada did not enroll at… Read more »
Interesting to see how this goes. It clearly is “pay for play” and in violation of NCAA rules. And, it was $500,000 signing bonus, which candidly is nuts. I really think that the key to solving this is simply to require disclosure upon signing. If FL had been forced to disclose they paid Rashada $500,000 up front to sign, what impact would that have had on other FL recruits? How about existing starters? The NCAA rules on NIL are a joke. They will never be enforced. Much better to mandate disclosure and immediate disqualification for any kid who does not… Read more »
One of the interesting things here is the vacuum for misconduct this whole NIL “booster collective” thing presents. Think about it. The booster collective theoretically does not benefit financially at all from a recruit’s success at their favored school. They get personal fulfillment and satisfaction, and have some great parties and tailgates, but the increased revenue goes to the school. Eventually, for the model to work, some of the school’s upside has to get back to the boosters and collectives, or resentment will eat up the whole thing. If you follow the money in life, you will find a whole… Read more »
Rock, Great points. Never considered it, but I think you are right – the “pay for play” is going to blow up big time. When you look at the amount of funds being spent, it cannot last without major issues. I have been consistent that I think LR’s approach is the best and I would not pay significant dollars to a true frosh. And, you are correct, this approach will cost SC some elite frosh talent, particularly on the OL, and on D. We should have no problem for WRs, RBs and QBs.
I think USC can still win a NC before long, even with the more conservative (and proper I might add) way LR, USC, and any Trojan collectives endorse. In fact, USC really has no choice in view of our horrifically destructive experiences with the NCAA in the past. Heck, the Trojans were within a couple of plays of making the POs in LR’s first year, even with our meager defense and poor special teams. Hopefully, LR has taken meaningful steps to correct these deficiencies. I assume he has, but realize that my rose-colored glasses can only project so much optimism.… Read more »
I just judge where we are in terms of winning a natty by looking at Georgia and Alabama right now. Alabama was considered to have one of its weakest teams in a long time last year, and it still came within a few plays of being undefeated. Georgia is a monster. We are in the neighborhood of being a playoff team in the next few years, but without a next level uptick in recruiting, which may require some aggressive tactics none of us would be comfortable with in the current environment, I just don’t think we can win a natty… Read more »
I believe there’s a lot more to recruiting analysis than just relying on the star system. For instance, when I look at the 3-stars given to some of USC’s incoming OL and DLs, I have to literally laugh. I know USC’s talent evaluators know a lot more than some of the evaluators in the recruiting biz do, and they also understand a lot more about what is truly going on behind the scenes with these kids. I don’t even compare USC to GA and ALA yet. I compare USC now to where it was 14 months ago. We were already… Read more »
I am just looking at this the way LR did when he attended the NC game, after which he said we don’t look like Georgia now, but we will. I agree that our talent evaluators know what they’re doing, but the fact is teams that consistently collect a lot of four and five stars and ALSO have good coaching tend to end up as playoff teams and in contention for natties. Other teams that are savvy can get in the mix, but they often hit a wall. To win a natty, or be competitive against Alabama or Georgia, you have… Read more »
USC TE target Duce Robinson swinging the bat
https://twitter.com/i/status/1622099400221954049
Really nice stroke.
Congrats to Andy Enfield who is 200-124 (.617) in 10 seasons at USC.
Enfield has already led USC to three NCAA tourneys (’16, ’17, ’21) and the NIT in ’18.
Some other USC coaches:
Sam Berry ’29-50 (except during ’42-44) — 260–138 (.653)
Tim Floyd ’05-09 — 85–50 (.630) — 22 wins eventually vacated
Bob Boyd ’67-79 — 216-131 (.622)
Forrest Twogood ’51-66 — 255-180 (.586)
Henry Bibby ’95-05 — 132–120 (.524)
Stan Morrison ’79-86 — 103-95 (.520)
George Raveling ’86-94 — 115–118 (.494)
I don’t see how anyone can complain about the results delivered by Enfield. He has built a consistently good program, and for Basketball at SC, that is hard to do. Tim Floyd appeared to be headed for the same results, but he accomplished that by recruiting a lot of knuckleheads. Hope Andy is our coach for a long time.
Good call. Hope this team gets into the NCAAs. Still have eight games to play before the Pac-12 tourney.
I also like Lindsay Gottlieb, the USC women’s coach. Her team is 17-6 and on the way.
The nation’s No. 1 women’s basketball recruit Juju Watkins, a 6-2 guard who grew up in Watts, is on her way to USC. She’s considered a talent on the level of Trojan greats Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Cheryl Miller, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.
I have to give Enfield congratulations. SC was the perfect school for him and he was perfect for SC. He has, I think, developed into a very good basketball coach. When I say the SC was the perfect school for him, it was because SC is not a basketball school and the administration could be patient and allow him to develop. When I say that he was perfect for SC, he had talent that needed time to develop. To use a football analogy, he is now ready to coach a top program and keep it at the top. When SC… Read more »
USC’s radical free throw improvement is impressive and startling. Under Enfield no less, USC used to be known as a horrible free-throwing team, leading to tough losses. This was often perplexing to many of us Trojan fans. Just why was this, especially since as a player at Johns Hopkins, Enfield set the all-time NCAA career FT% record — 92.5% (431-466)? He was known as a “shot doctor” in fact. This Enfield team knocks down FTs like nobody’s business. It’s now a pleasure to see USC’s opponents foul the Trojans, only to watch us routinely drain those 15-footers. USC has the best… Read more »
Another PWO Mekhi “KhiBo” Norfleet. Beast of a running back from Santa Barbara JC.
USC Out-Recruits Every Big Ten School For 2023 5-Star Signees
1. SEC — 21
2. Big 12 — 7
3. Pac-12 — 5 (includes WR Zachariah Branch and QB Malachi Nelson ⟶ USC)
4. ACC — 4
5. Big Ten — 1 (only WR Brandon Inniss ⟶ OHIO ST)
si.com
Out of the TOP ’20’ 1-OL …. 0 DL….. 2 Edge
Curious what USC class would look like if included in a Big 10 TOP 20
that has more importance now….
High school recruiting, yes. We need to do better along the lines. Transfer portal- 3 OL that were all conference. DL- 2 that were all conference plus a 2022 5 Star. The lines were not ignored, they just came through transfer portal.
I really like incoming IOL Micah Banuelos (6-3, 290) from Washington. Seems like a tough guy winner to me.
I read great things about his play during all star games against elite competition. I am also really excited about Sam Greene. He has a giant chip on his shoulder. I think he will be an impact player.
Yes, the #’s I mentioned were the whole pac12. We got it done in the transfer portal OL, improved on the DL… Still I want to see Stats, comparisons with our HS recruiting to the B1G, that’s really the competition our 23′ on classes will play when they emerge.
I like what’s been brought in, in recruitment. I keep seeing people who think USC came short this year. They point to Pete Carroll’s recruiting, but they forget that he came in after Paul (couldn’t) Hackett. He had to build the personnel back up and it took a few years. Helton never met a five star player and didn’t develop the players he brought in. I would say he was a minimalist but that would make him an over achiever. Anyway once Riley’s coaching takes hold and high school kids start looking like future NFL players, recruiting will match or… Read more »
People need to realize times have changed. Pete could put a fence up around LA just by his personality and the team playing lights out. He never had to deal with Oregon outright buying players with NIL. Pete would not have gotten the classes he used to get with NIL.
I agree with LR in not going down that road, it does not bring in players with the right attitude. If the players want to work hard they will earn the big bucks.
Pete was a great USC coach by every measure.
But with all due respect to him, he beat up on the Pac-12 when it was considerably, or at least noticeably, weaker IMO. That’s no diss on Pete. Love the guy. But LR entered USC at a time when many of the Pac-12 programs are more competitive.
If you look back during the PC years, Cal (Tedford), Washington (Pedersen), Stanford (Harbaugh), ASU(Snyder) and Oregon(Bellotti/Kelly) had some competitive teams that gave USC tough games.
I still say the Pac-12 is stronger now. JMHO. Petersen never came to UW until 2014, long after Carroll left. And Snyder left ASU in 2000, before Carroll started at USC in 2001. ✌