The Top-3 Trojan Recruiting Misses of the 21st Century
Recruiting Miss No. 1 - De'Anthony Thomas
Would De'Anthony Thomas have looked better in cardinal and gold? (Photo: Steve ****s, Getty)
Former five-star athlete and Oregon Duck star
De'Anthony Thomas was a particularly tough miss for the Trojans, considering he prepped in USC's backyard at Crenshaw and he was verbally committed to the Trojans for almost a year. Thomas shocked the world just two days before signing day, switching his commitment from the Trojans to the Ducks.
The Los Angeles (Calif.) Crenshaw five-star athlete from the class of 2011 was ranked as the No. 1 all-purpose back in the country, the No. 2 ranked player in California and the overall No. 13 ranked player in the country according to the 247Sports composite rankings. 247Sports also listed Thomas, aka the "Black Mamba," as the No. 1 cornerback prospect in the country.
We watched, filmed and talked to Thomas quite a bit down in San Antonio at the Army All-American Bowl in January, 2011. The entire time Thomas was all USC and the major debate was whether he would play cornerback or somewhere on offense. Thomas really shined that week playing corner and it seems like the Trojans were going to get a superb athlete added to their defensive backfield. Less than a month later, all of that changed.
Thomas took an official visit to Oregon the weekend before signing day. Thomas loved his visit and envisioned himself playing running back in that explosive Chip Kelly offense. Since that visit followed a dead period, it did not give USC a chance to change Thomas' mind with an unofficial visit. He called the USC staff two days before signing day and then announced that Wednesday night at Crenshaw that he would be attending Oregon.
If you want to read a lot more detail about Thomas' decision, Greg Biggins did an
in-depth piece back in 2015.
Why was this our No. 1 biggest miss for USC? Just looking back at the Trojans class of 2011, it was still pretty stacked even without Thomas. USC ended up with a lot of starters and future NFL players from that class like Thomas' teammate
Marcus Martin,
J.R. Tavai,
Javorius Allen,
Marqise Lee and
Cody Kessler. But this was USC's last "big" class before the sanctions kicked in, so missing out on a local generational talent was huge. Plus Thomas went to play for a conference rival, one that had just played for a national championship. Thomas ended up being the first of a few huge de-commitments of the Lane Kiffin era at USC, and in our opinion the biggest of this century.
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Recruiting Miss No. 2 - DeSean Jackson
With speed to spare, DeSean Jackson was fun to watch at Cal.
Highly explosive players don't come around all that often, so when someone like the former five-star wide receiver and Cal Golden Bear
DeSean Jackson was available the Trojans were all in to get him. Back on signing day, 2005 Jackson went on FSN West with his family behind him and a Cal, Oklahoma and USC hat in front of him (along with a Dodgers and Angels hat because he could have played baseball). Despite it being the heyday of USC football under
Pete Carroll, Jackson picked up the Cal hat and became a Golden Bear.
The Long Beach (Calif.) Long Beach Poly class of 2005 five-star receiver was the No. 22 ranked player in the country, the No. 4 ranked player in California and the No. 4 wide receiver in the nation according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
Carroll and the Trojans had a monster class in 2005, coming off a couple of national titles. Incoming freshman quarterback
Mark Sanchez was close with Jackson and played with him in many of the all-star games during the off-season. But Jackson was looking for a place he could play right away and be the man, and with five-star wide receiver Patrick Turner already lined up to be a Trojan, it helped push Jackson over to Cal. This despite telling Trojans commits at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl that he was going to USC. In fact, Jackson went so far as to call Pete Carroll after the National Championship game to commit silently along with Houston County (Ga.) four-star defensive end recruit Kyle Moore.
“It was real hard, man” Jackson said of picking Cal over the opportunity to play with fellow USC recruit Mark Sanchez. “I love ‘SC. They’ll always have a spot in my heart, but I just didn’t choose them. Mark Sanchez, he’s a great dude, he got me the ball in all of those all-star games, but I had to do what I had to do, and I had to do the best thing for me.”
In the end, USC's class of 2005 was full of great defenders, but the only true standout on offense ended up being Sanchez. The Trojans could have really used Jackson to replace some of that on-field magic of the soon-to-be departed
Reggie Bush. While USC was amassing talent at the wide receiver position, the team lacked Bush's explosiveness as a kick returner.
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Recruiting Miss No. 3 - Manti Teo and Vontaze Burfict
Manti Te'o played against USC instead of for USC. (Photo: 247Sports)
Coming in at No. 3 we are calling this one a tie between two blue-chip linebackers the Trojans missed out on, former five-star and Notre Dame standout
Manti Te'o and another former five-star who ended up at Arizona State,
Vontaze Burfict. Sure, that is a bit of a cop-out, but this is a specific case where the Trojans missed out on a great opportunity to help replace one of the all-time linebacker groups in USC history.
Honolulu (Hawaii) Punahou five-star linebacker Manti Te'o from the class of 2009 was the No. 4 ranked player in the country, the top-ranked inside linebacker and the top-ranked player coming out of Hawaii according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Corona (Calif.) Centennial five-star linebacker Vontaze Burfict was the No. 11 ranked player in the country, the No. 2 ranked inside linebacker and the No. 2 ranked player in California for that same year.
USC's linebacker class of 2009 was extremely important because in the 2009 NFL Draft the Trojans had a ridiculous four linebackers drafted,
Brian Cushing and
Clay Matthews in the first round,
Rey Maualuga in the second round and
Kaluka Maiava in the fourth round. Being able to bring in the top-2 inside linebackers in the nation would have been a great way to try and replace all of the linebacker firepower that moved on to play in the pros.
Te'o was a silent commit to USC and had previously called and told the staff he would be a Trojan. On his official visit to South Bend, the Fighting Irish had lost to Navy and the students were throwing snowballs from the stands at the team. But for reasons we are still not clear on to this day, Te'o changed his mind and signed with Notre Dame.
Burfict was a verbal commit to USC but the Trojans failed to manage his recruitment well, allowing Dennis Erickson and Arizona State to take advantage. The main recruiter for Burfict was defensive assistant David Watson, but he was involved in a car accident and was charged with DUI due to his addiction to prescription drugs. With Watson no longer around, communication broke down regarding Burfict's recruitment. Ken Norton Jr. was supposed to take over, but he (or any other USC assistant) contacted Burfict for about three months. The Sun Devils focused on getting Burfict academically eligible, which was a legitimate concern for the struggling student.
Compounding the two big misses from that class were other misses that USC ended up getting.
Frankie Telfert never played for USC because of a heart condition,
Jarvis Jones had a neck injury that helped lead to his transfer to Georgia and
Marquis Simmons finished his USC career with just 17 total tackles.
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Honorable Mention
The Trojans could have used a stud defensive back like Jalen Ramsey. (Photo: Travis Register, 247Sports)
While these players failed to crack our top-3 of USC's biggest recruiting misses, they were still key players the Trojans could have used to find more success on the field.
Jalen Ramsey - Following USC's disappointing 2012 season the 2013 recruiting class went from being ranked No. 1 in the country to being just 12 guys and ranked 13th. The Trojans had three five-star de-commitments and the biggest of which was five-star corner Jalen Ramsey.
Eddie Vanderdoes - One of the other five-stars from the class of 2013 to de-commit. He actually picked Notre Dame before going to UCLA.
Andrus Peat - The class of 2012 five-star offensive tackle from Tempe picked the Stanford Cardinal over the Trojans. This was another Lane Kiffin miss.
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Charles Nelson - This was more of an evaluation miss for Steve Sarkisian as Nelson was a three-star with lots of upside the Trojans passed on, instead getting
Rahshead Johnson. The Florida prospect from the class of 2014 officially visited USC but ended up at Oregon.
Brandon Mebane - Another evaluation miss, this time by Pete Carroll in the class of 2003. Mebane was a three-star defensive tackle from Crenshaw that ended up at Cal and then a long career in the NFL.
Dashon Goldson - The four-star JC safety from the class of 2004 went to rival Washington and also had a long NFL career. USC tried to recruit Goldson, but came in too late in the process.
Percy Harvin - His name came up recently at the Todd McNair trial. Back in 2006 USC went after Harvin hard, but the five-star receiver ended up at Florida. He would have been a great replacement for the departing Reggie Bush.
Kenny Clark - Despite this local four-star defensive lineman having a great day at USC's camp, he was never extended a scholarship offer by Lane Kiffin. Clark ended up at UCLA and then the NFL.
nako xl
casper90403
ThaxbyChamblis
- but as someone who lives in the northeast we don't really have a 7-on circuit for kids over here that I'm aware of. In NY/NJ/CT it's a lot more of the traditional practice of coaches pushing the handful of really good kids to schools they have connections (and kickbacks and job opportunities) with.
