How important is recruiting this year compared to the portal?
All of USC's best players with the exception of a couple lineman, but The Starters that are turning into Stars , almost ALL came through the portal.
The best player on defense. Starvin Marvin Gentry came from ETCU of all places. Shane lee came from Bama. Byrd came from wyoming . Those are the three stars of the defense. None were recruited.
Same story on the O side of the ball. Except for the line, almost all the stars came from somewhere else.
My guess is , at least until there are some rules and regulations everyone agrees to (good luck with that), Unless it's a five star or on the O line, and maybe interior D line it just makes more sense to put most of the effort into the portal.
That being said, recruiting the O line is always the biggest crapshoot. might be better to hedge your bets there too.
what a mess.
ps. how did Brandon Pili not get a try out at Guard when he's proven he simply can't tackle anyone? Maybe he's not smart enough for the o line either. Maybe too many coaching changes? The last set of coaches never let anyone actually tackle anyone. Lots of kids discover the herb and turn into tubs of goo. Who knows. sc
I like the idea of getting OLers that have already proven they can play, but aren’t happy in their current situation….with a successful year, SC will start cashing in on those types of players.
36 PSI in my tires:
It's The Truth
I liken the portal to the old JC route. That was very inconsistent and you missed more than hit. Similarly pissed off kids and families you recruited. Very short term now approach. Not good for long term program building. KSU was built on it and as quickly fell apart.
So far portal seems more accurate. Seeing a kid play at Wyoming or on the bench at Utah is better prep than playing at Rio Hondo JC
People don't quite get the situation USC is in, nor how slow the process of freshmen developing is. Further, none of us know where this whole portal and NIL thing is headed.
My OPINION is Riley has 1-2 classes where he can get away with giving guys positions away and recruiting the portal. Before families and HS coaches say "yeah, not sending my kid there, you will just go find some new shiny toy to replace him" He's used one of those classes. I think this is it. Which is why this recruiting class of HS kids is so important.
In 2023 he can go bring in a bunch of mercenaries again. Go buy himself the best team he can. And assuming they only lose a few to the draft this year, they could be deeper next year.
2024? You better have kids from HS you brought in in 2022 and 2023 ready. And recruit 2024 kids to play in 2024. That's the year they enter the B10 and also the end of the patience stage. I would think as others have mentioned from there forward you would recruit the bulk of your class from HS and take a top portal guy if you had a guy retire early, leave for the NFL. Some opening that allows you to plug a guy directly in and gives you a story to tell guys on your team, HS coaches and parents why you brought in an outsider ahead of the existing kid.
Why is this important? HS recruits meet your team. Your players. And if they are bitter they will say so. Hackett had guys flat out tell recruits not to come to USC. It's surprising what kids will say. And it's surprising what a high percentage of kids feel they are not reated right, coached right etc. Probably like people at jobs these days. Anyway, I think they have one more year of portal and after that it's likely gonna be an 80-20 or 90%-10% mix of recruit versus portal.
I also think if a program continues on the portal path for extended time you're seeing a shaky program or one where the coach is gonna bail. They won't have as much stability and ability to survive a scandal or coaching move.
HS recruiting has been, and always will be the most important thing in any program. Hired guns are just that, they come and go. You need the HS guys to be your culture and your foundation. The pretty windows go in last. FU Chip Kelly.
Its still crucial for OL and DL. Skill players may be gettable. The portal rules will change.
I don’t care how we get to where we want to be as long as we get there, the portal and freshman recruiting
are both ways to get there. We need to use both
Brandon has shown me he would be a great guard? Why? He never holds anyone. Nyuk nyuk nyuk