2017 PRESEASON (Winter)
USC took another jump up in prestige, going from Excellent (85) to Excellent (88), now tied for the seventh most prestigious program in the nation (tied with the University of Virginia). The six schools more prestigious than Southern Cal at this point are (all "Excellent"); University of Florida (100) - three consecutive national championships will do that for ya - Texas A&M (96) - they won two in a row awhile back - Iowa (95), Michigan (91), UCLA (89) and, heh, finally, Keene State at (88).
For those interested, here is a list of the schools that have won the National Championship to date.
Code:
The College Years
Solecismic National Champion List
Year Champion
2016 Florida
2015 Florida
2014 Florida
2013 Michigan
2012 Syracuse
2011 Louisville
2010 Texas A&M
2009 Texas A&M
2008 Penn State
2007 Texas
2006 Michigan
2005 Oklahoma
2004 Georgia
* * *
USC's academic rating remains at Very Good (70), 11th best in the nation. The schools with better academic reputations than USC are listed below.
Code:
School GPA Overall Reputation
Duke 3.08 88
Rice 3.09 87
Wisconsin 3.01 82
Northwestern 2.92 81
Stanford 2.82 78
UCLA 3.05 76
Michigan 2.95 73
Maryland 2.89 72
Illinois 2.84 71 0
Tulane 2.82 71
I'm not sure if I can get Southern Cal's reputation over 70, as we don't offer three majors. Once again, the GPA of the players in the football program was best in the nation at 3.22. So we're doing all we can to make it a highly rated football program and academic school.
* * *
FB Jackie Woolley and TE Jumbo Specter have left the program because of a lack of playing time. Woolley I can understand, but Specter is just dumb as nails - we don't use tight ends, of course he's not going to play. Oy.
ILB Renaldo Elder has been suspended by the NCAA for, and I quote, "recording a truly awful rap album about the pain and humiliation of athletes foot."
When they're right, they're right.
I received a number of job offers over the Christmas holidays. The most pretigious school was SMU (Very Good-79), and the one with the most name cache was Florida State. I didn't give serious consideration to any of them and will return to Southern Cal for my tenth season.
TCY Today has ranked our recruiting class from last season 6th in the nation. Here's a look at the incoming freshman for 2017.
Code:
The College Years
The University of Southern California Trojans
2016 Recruiting List, Ranking View
TCY Today Ranking: #6
Player Pos HT WT ST NRank ByPos StRank ByPos
$$Casillas, Eddie QB 6-3 215 WA 67 5 2 1
$$Vance, Billy RB 5-7 171 FL 132 11 9 3
$$Walker, Skipjack RB 5-9 179 WV 280 21 3 1
$$Benzer, Devin FB 5-11 217 SD 45 2 1 1
##Merchberger, Joe FB 6-0 193 VA --- 76 58 4
$$Hartl, Oliver WR 5-11 166 FL 278 26 18 2
$$Lyubashevsky, Gino C 6-2 265 CA 69 1 9 1
$$Long, Dana C 6-6 299 UT 93 3 1 1
$$Barton, Brian G 6-6 295 NM 64 10 3 2
##Berry, Kurt T 6-3 272 SC --- --- 27 6
$$Eason, Xavier P 6-0 195 WA 58 1 1 1
$$Knight, Wally DE 6-2 241 NJ 1 1 1 1
$$Oben, Moe ILB 6-2 231 CT 25 2 1 1
##Biakabutuka, Wayne OLB 6-1 199 TX --- --- --- 9
##Cipa, Dan CB 6-0 168 CT 510 31 12 2
$$Brennan, Jon S 6-2 176 MI 853 52 32 5
Player All-St All-US Status
$$Casillas, Eddie Yes No Committed *
$$Vance, Billy No No Committed *
$$Walker, Skipjack Yes No Committed *
$$Benzer, Devin Yes No Committed *
##Merchberger, Joe No No Committed *
$$Hartl, Oliver No No Committed *
$$Lyubashevsky, Gino Yes Yes Committed *
$$Long, Dana Yes No Committed *
$$Barton, Brian Yes No Committed *
##Berry, Kurt No No Committed *
$$Eason, Xavier Yes No Committed *
$$Knight, Wally Yes No Committed *
$$Oben, Moe Yes No Committed *
##Biakabutuka, Wayne No No Committed *
##Cipa, Dan Yes No Committed *
$$Brennan, Jon Yes Yes Committed *
Player Scout Phone Visit Emphasis Status
$$Casillas, Eddie 68+ 2 2 Acad*/Dist Committed *
$$Walker, Skipjack 72++ 2 2 Acad/Prest Committed *
$$Vance, Billy 64+ 1 1 Acad/Dist Committed *
$$Benzer, Devin 76++ 3 3 Acad*/Dist Committed *
##Merchberger, Joe 54+ 1 1 Acad/Prest Committed *
$$Hartl, Oliver 72+ 2 1 Prest*/Acad Committed *
$$Long, Dana 77+ 2 2 Acad/Dist Committed *
$$Lyubashevsky, Gino 68++ 4 1 Acad/Dist Committed *
$$Barton, Brian 89-- 2 1 Prest/Acad Committed *
##Berry, Kurt 61- 1 1 Prest/Acad Committed *
$$Eason, Xavier 100- 3 2 Prest/Dist Committed *
$$Knight, Wally 91+ 3 3 Prest*/Dist Committed *
$$Oben, Moe 86+ 3 1 Prest/Acad Committed *
##Biakabutuka, Wayne 61- 2 2 Acad*/Dist Committed *
##Cipa, Dan 71-- 2 2 Acad/Dist Committed *
$$Brennan, Jon 81-- 1 1 Acad/(Dist) Committed *
Rough Estimate of Player Interest: No Prefix - player unlikely to be
interested, ** - a bit of a stretch for your school, $$ - likely interest,
## - almost certain interest.
* * *
No PAC-10 teams make coaching changes this off-season.
Our entire staff aside from Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards will be returning for 2017. I have been displeased for some time the way Edwards has failed to develop players - most notably quarterbacks, and his playcalling was pretty good, not excepttional. Replacing Edwards will be Zach Fuchs. Fuchs comes to USC from the Florida State Seminoles where he was Offensive Coordinator. Fuchs is a brilliant play caller (rated Excellent) and excells at developing players, particularly quarterbacks. We'll continue to run the flexbone under Zach.
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