Here are our thoughts on the guys that stood out in last nights presentation. Full bios and direct quotes from Pete Carroll after the jump.
John Martinez, OL, 4-STAR
Just a nasty, pancake blocking guard. He can get down field too (a la Jeff Byers). Highlight after highlight he would pull from his guard position, run and then just destroy someone. They want him to play center. He will be a cornerstone of a future O-line group.
Kevin Graf, OL, 4-STAR
This guy is 6'6" and 315 pounds. He looked like the green giant against his high school peers.
Matt Barkley, QB, 5-STAR
Not much needs to be said. #1 player in the country. Big arm. Can read defenses. Dedicated. His eyes were nearly popping out of his head when he spoke to the coaches following Mark Sanchez's departure.
De'Von Flournoy, WR, 4-STAR
Holy cow. Not sure if we have ever seen a highlight reel like his. There were over 20 plays. And not one that didn't go for a touchdown. Very impressive speed and sense of other players around him.
Jacob Harfman, K, 2-STAR
A little shorter than David Buehler but definitely of the same mold (a big, physical kicker). He can do it all — placekicking and punts. He was 3 for 3 over 50 yards and has kicked a 70 yarder in practice. He has incredible hangtime on his kickoffs if anyone ever does decide to take it out, they will be met with the Trojans special teams before getting to the 20. The ball just explodes off his foot.
Hebron Fangupo, DT, 4-STAR
Great penetration up the middle, even while drawing double teams on every play.
James Boyd, DE, 4-STAR
An incredible athlete that was actually the starting QB for his high school too. He is a freaking defensive end! He plays basketball too (and averages 25 points and 22 rebounds).
Devon Kennard, DE, 5-STAR
A prototypical freak defensive end. Hopefully with a more malleable attitude than Everson Griffen.
Frankie Telfort, LB, 4-STAR
He ran a 4.39. He is a cerebral player. He wants to major pre-med. He has a cool name. He has potential to be a really, really special player.
Jarvis Jones, LB, 4-STAR
A mean hitter that doesn't take any wasted steps before blowing up his opponent. Impressive.
Jawanza Starling, DB, 4-STAR
Another mean hitter. He is going to play baseball for SC too.
The class is ranked No. 4 by Rivals and No. 4 by ESPN.
Jarvis Jones and Frankie Telfort (the first Miami native to choose USC in the Carroll era) were nice last minute additions.
It is still tough to ignore all the chatter about the loss of four highly-touted early commits: Vontaze Burfict, Morrell Presley, Randall Carroll and Alshon Jeffery. Hey, the loss is theirs. But Pete Carroll might rethink getting such early commitments — painting gigantic targets on these guys for other schools to come and hone their attack on USC.
We'll be back tomorrow with more thoughts from tonight's recruiting dinner.
Very good sources say five-star LB recruit Manti Te'o will be committing to USC where he will wear either 55, 5 or 58.
On the flip side of the coin it looks like ASU has grabbed the other highly touted five-star LB recruit Vontaze Burfict. For Burfict to be eligible at SC next season he would have to pull off night classes and online courses that he would not have to complete at ASU. This information is not definite but comes on good authority.
Although the signing date is Wednesday, USC is expected to host wide receiver Orson Charles of Tampa, Fla., next weekend and possibly tailback Bryce Brown of Wichita, Kan., who is ranked the No. 1 tailback in the nation.
Want to see future Trojans like Matt Barkley in action? Check out this highlight reel from the 2009 Under Armour All-American Game, held a couple weeks back:
Love the Jesus cross in the background; it deifies him nicely, but he could stand to lose the dyed hair. What we love about him most though is his straightforward confidence.
"I've been given abilities to be able to play football and throw the football and a mind to be able to comprehend quite a bit, so I really don't settle for anything."
Matt Barkley will be leading his Monarchs against the Carson Colts and Morrell Presley (another gem from USC's 2009 recruiting class) tonight, Wednesday (ESPN2, 6 PST).
For the last few years the name Harris has been synonymous with the USC cornerback position, thanks to the agressive Cary Harris. This upcoming year Harris returns to the field for his with last season with the cardinal and gold. But although Harris may be drafted to the league in '09, his name will continue on at the coliseum. That's because 3-star corner Torin Harris out of Palo Verde High (Las Vegas) is the latest addition to the Trojans '09 recruiting class. The 6-foot, 175lb cornerback is listed by scout as the #31 CB in the country. Like Cary, Torin has proven versatile on both sides of the ball. As a junior Torin Harris landed 35 tackles as well as returning 3 kicks for touchdowns.
Follow the jump to view the Harris highlight video as well as stats on USC's former 3-star recruits.
The scene was on court at the Galen Center again, where a couple times Pete Carroll expressed his desire to see Tim Floyd's bunch hand the Bruins another loss this year.
Carroll said this class was about "bigs" not "flash" and he felt fortunate that the Trojans were in a position to play it this way, this year. Joe McKnight was sure excited about the 5 solid offensive line prospects.
After the jump are some notes from last nights event.
Why is Pete Carroll jotting down notes at your six-year old brother's pee wee football game? Why is Carroll carousing the maternity ward, clocking just how fast the newborn baby makes it through the birth canal? Why, you ask?...Because it's never too early to start recruiting for 2025.
Okay. It's not that extreme but Carroll is making waves with his early recruiting tactics, locking in power-recruits before anyone else can get their hands on them. Carroll, along with his recruiting coordinator (and eldest son - Brennan), are sweeping up big talent from all around Southern California, already landing early-bird recruits for 2009.
"USC's looking at my tape right now as we speak," said the Cy-Fair High School running back, who is ranked by Scout.com as the nation's No. 42 prospect. "I want an offer from them so bad. I really like Coach (Ken) Norton. He's a cool dude. He went to UCLA and his dad was a professional boxer. We text each other all the time.
"Great running backs come from USC," McGuffie said. "I've been compared to Reggie Bush before and that's a big deal. I'm going to take a trip there at the beginning of the season hopefully. An offer from SC would be huge. I would definitely be tempted to commit."
Houston (Texas) Cy-Fair running back Sam McGuffie was offered by University of Southern California coach Pete Carroll and assistant Ken Norton Jr. during school on Thursday.
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