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Chad Bowden Comments on Recruiting

Chad had a meeting with regular beat writers that cover USC.

Highlights:

This will be the largest HS recruiting class in USC history. At least that is the goal. Said what they are attempting to do this cycle is something he has never attempted before. Sounds like this class will be over 30 recruits. The last time we recruited over 28 players was 2015 and we had the number 1 class that year. The USC record for HS signees is 29 in 2011, the number 3 class that cycle.

Called the 2026 California HS class the best in 20 years, focus has been on California recruits.

Says USC will be aggressive and recruit against anyone.

USC will not stop recruiting even the guys already committed to USC. A knock on the staff not maintaining communication with commits in past years.

Donations are up.

11 comments

11 Comments

Fresno Mike

Mar 05

McKay might have been over 30 at one point...in those long ago 60's now. I don't know if they had limits back then and some of the big boys would take some kids so they wouldn't go to a competitor.

troystory

Mar 04

I think that 2011 class was the last before recruiting restrictions of 15 per year kicked in. Kiffin actually recruited a few in that class we would not otherwise recruit. Some JC level OL as I recall. I'm surprised we were ranked that high. Remnants of the PC era recruiting boost.

Fraud

Mar 04

Jen should just make him the coach. WTF does Riley actually do? Call fades and the jump ball play for Bugs Maiava?

Java

Mar 04

I speculated about this. Not the quality of the 26 crop. Didn’t know

But that momentum had a tendency to build. And when you suddenly had a top 3 class everyone wants in. And you find yourself nudging 3 stars who have been with you 2 years for January 5 star commits.

UCLA had this during Toledo. 98 or so. Gary bernardi was the recruiting director. And OL coach.

I thought perhaps UsC might do the same. Sounds like the old rule about 28 in a class is gone

I felt that maybe they could use NIL and recruit all the talent they could. Get a class of 30 and go to 100. There’s a lot of fall out doing that but if the success rate of scouting is 50%. Suddenly you know you have 15 studs and that’s a ton of winners for one class

The other thing they used to do is have some come in early entry and have some delays a semester. Basically spreading out the class and it’s talent. Hard to do that today when everyone has an agent

Butkus51

Mar 04

Replying to

C. LR is a lazy recruiter. He does not think Cali boys are good FB players. Did not recruit Calif what a dumb sheet. Disrespectful to the top SS CIF high school HC's by not calling them and having a friendly chat. The last 2 years he and staff FU big time.

I do not like him as our HC and wish he be gone. GM Bowden and AD Cohen would find an A+ HC to replace his sorry arse... Cheers.

Edited

Butkus51

Mar 04

What's happening show how incompetent C. LR and his R staff were the last 2 years. Dam him. Hell, GM Bowden should get a pay raise, and dock C. LR salary... Cheers.

August West

Mar 04

Replying to

Simmons is the last one….he needs to go. WR development has been, lacking

Java

Mar 04

Replying to

Nah I think it shows how much recruiting has changed. Name me one top team in terms of talent acquisition who is now a playoff caliber team. Who is not paying players before this ever began. Or was at the forefront of pay for play.

Remember when NIL first came out we all said that it would not be paid for play and USC and others were waiting for regulations to come down that cuff clarified that you couldn’t just pay kids to come play for you. And that the school is that we’re doing that we’re probably going to wind up in big trouble. So USC and other others laid-back.

Meanwhile, Oregon, Ohio State, Texas the SEC schools. All they did was went above ground with the pay for play that they were doing before. All those schools had bag men, Oregon imported SEC coaches the last two times for that very reason. They need to be able to pay players like the SEC was.

I think after the 2023 season USC got the message that pay for play is the future and it took them that long to find a general manager who can play in that environment. My opinion is that they sacrificed the 2025 recruiting class to wait for Bowden.

When Riley came, he thought all he had to do was bring in a bunch of transfers like he did to Oklahoma. That’s why he was so confident that it could be built so quickly. I don’t think he had any idea nor did any of us that it was so quickly going to become a mercenary business.

Java

Mar 04

Replying to

I was howling at that all year and beside myself why the big fat duce was laying a turd in the starting lineup and why branch was playing at all. At all. At all.

And apparently it wasn’t obvious because nearly every single person here said I was a hater and didn’t know what I was talking about. That if I only played hockey I’d know how great branch was. Pasadena telling me how wonderful duce was.

And they weren’t. They sucked. They sucked, big fat, cucumbers, big fat lemons they sucked. And now that it’s over it’s obvious I was right and if I was as obnoxious as someone, I would’ve posted it 5 million times and pointed it out.

And yeah, about the time, I realized that the transfer from Auburn wasn’t playing. The transfer from San Jose State wasn’t playing. Branch was horrible. Robinson was horrible and lemon and lane were great players and lane was suspended for a couple of games and held out and for some reason, lemon wasn’t getting targets.

I said that Simmons guy has to go. You can’t have that much talent and waste it. You can’t be that wrong about something that’s right in front of you. Something that’s that obvious. You can’t have that many fast talented guys and not develop them.

Trojans would’ve been better off just having lane and lemon play all year and having branch and Robinson transfer after the first game. That’s how bad they were. That’s how much they stole time from guys who were truly deserving and truly productive.

Criminal what happened last year and even worse that Simmons is still coaching at USC

Edited

August West

Mar 03

Great things happened when Frau Folt left….overnight.

Cohen and the staff have things moving in the right direction.