Signed, sealed and delivered


National Signing Day featured an old-fashioned horse race, and Traveler, the noble white horse representing the prosperity of the USC football program, made a miraculous run down the stretch to come out on top on the annual recruiting race on Wednesday.

I’m still feeling goosebumps from signing day as if an announcer at the race track was chronicling the day’s events in just a matter of seconds because that’s how fast it felt everything took place.

There wasn’t actually a horse race taking place on Wednesday, but head coach Steve Sarkisian sure did finish the recruiting cycle as if he were California Chrome in last year’s Kentucky Derby.

In business and sales especially, there’s a certain frequently phrase thrown around: “Always  be closing,”which was famously coined by Alec Baldwin in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross.

Sarkisian and his staff did exactly that by hitting a home run on the recruiting trail for the second consecutive year and capping it off with a grand slam on signing day. Heck, I just wish the team could close games as well as it does on recruits.

Last year, USC had the “Big Three” — JuJu Smith, Damien Mama and Adoree’ Jackson — this year, we have what is being called the “Fab Five.”

The Trojans took care of business  by nabbing all five of these highly touted recruits, which started with the signing of the Utah five-star linebacker tandem of Porter Gustin and Osa Masina, who made their decisions prior to Wednesday. The Trojans would then go on to ink five-star defensive tackle and another five-star linebacker in John Houston, Jr., to continue the continuous pipeline from Junipero High School in Gardena, California.

Finally, a successful day would be capped off with the commitment of the nation’s top cornerback in five-star Iman “Biggie” Marshall from Long Beach Poly High School , who announced his decision to everyone in quite the creative manner, pulling up to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and throwing on his USC hat in an exclusive Bleacher Report video.

It was like something out of a Disney movie, really, and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to propel the Trojans to the pinnacle in their first full class since the end of the NCAA sanctions.

It just took a timespan of a few hours to jolt the Trojans’ 2015 recruiting class past Nick Saban and Alabama to the No. 1 spot in the nation, according to Rivals.com.

USC started the day with the No. 2 class based on Rival’s rankings, but with a perfect run for the so-called big fish on Signing Day, they were able to eclipse the Crimson Tide for the top spot in the land.

Sarkisian sent a message last year on signing day with the high caliber of a class he was able to pull in even with only 19 scholarships as opposed to 25, but on Wednesday, he made a statement not only to the rest of the Pac-12, but all of division one football that when at full strength, USC is quite the force to be reckoned with.

Is this a representation of the balance of power shifting back west from the SEC to the Pac-12?

It very well could be, but we still have a lot of player development to be had and football to be played before we can say that.

Let’s remember again that highly ranked recruiting classes don’t always translate into national championships, but it sure is a good start.

Sarkisian has always been seen as an effective recruiter, especially when it comes to recruiting players out of the program’s very own backyard of Southern California.

This was once again prevalent in 2015, as the Trojans were able to retain all four signing day commitments in the state of California.

Of course, Sarkisian’s familiarity with the area and the program are a huge asset, though the “Sark Knight” has a secret weapon: recruiting ace and wide receivers coach Tee Martin.

In the past, Martin has recruited the likes of Jackson, Nelson Agholor and Marqise Lee  and locked up Marshall in this class.

Earlier this week, Martin was named the No. 7 best recruiter in all of the land by the Sporting News.

When it comes to rating this recruiting class from top to bottom, I would personally have to give them an A. They not only addressed their needs on both sides of the ball including nine top-rated players that cover all facets of the defense, but added a great deal of talent for the future.

This includes their potential quarterbacks of the future in early enrollee Ricky Town out of St. Bonaventure and Sam Darnold from San Clemente High School down in southern Orange County.

The only reason I gave Sarkisian and his staff an A and not an A+ is that the program lost the fan hood of long-time dedicated Trojans enthusiast Snoop Dogg, who claimed he would throw away all of his USC drawers after his son, four-star wide receiver Cordell Broadus announced that he would be playing his college ball across town at UCLA.

The most important thing that the 2015 class give to USC, though, is depth. Many of us still remember the numerous late-game collapses that were later blamed on a lack of depth, but now finally, with a full recruiting class under their belt, this should no longer be an issue.

The program is once again at the top of the rankings off the field, but if anything, this calls for even greater expectations for Sarkisian and his team on the field.

No more sanctions and no more depth issues means no more excuses.

Once again, USC is equipped with the assets to be great and as this recruiting class has shown, it’s capable of not only winning local in-conference battles but national championships.

Darian Nourian is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism. He is also the sports editor of the Daily Trojan. His column, “Persian Persuasion,” runs Thursdays.