Freshmen flying under the radar
College football is great for so many reasons. Chief among them is the development of young, talented recruits into important contributors to the team by the time these players leave campus.
Of course, it’s hard to peg which players will materialize and which ones will go the way of Whitney Lewis, Blake Ayles and Dillon Baxter: all-world high school recruits who just could not excel at the collegiate level.
Part of the excitement is watching an unheralded recruit, such as Clay Matthews, who originally walked on to the football team, develop into All-American candidates. Equally exciting is when a top recruit such as Keith Rivers, Matt Kalil, or more recently, Leonard Williams and Su’a Cravens, exceed the hype and turn in some of the most storied and accomplished collegiate careers in Trojan history.
It’s not always easy to predict the trajectory of incoming freshmen.
Naturally, talent plays a major role, but coach and player development is equally important. Additionally, other factors such as work ethic, discipline, eating habits, and football IQ, which play a significant role in whether or not a player will realize their full potential.
As a fan, it’s exciting to identify underclassmen as future stars and watch as their careers unfold. It adds an extra level of investment to the games especially in the last couple of years when the Trojans weren’t competiting for national titles.
Over the last 10 years, I have fervently devoured every recruiting report before the new freshmen class steps onto campus and have tried to peg which players will be future All-Americans.
There have been some quality predictions like Taylor Mays, who was listed as a 6-foot-4 safety who could run a 4.3 40-yard dash.
To be fair, It didn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out that Pete Carroll and his legendary prowess in developing secondaries would take those raw talents and really refine them. The same could be said more recently about JuJu Smith and Tyron Smith.
Identifying highly coveted prospects as potential stars doesn’t require a high degree of skill, however figuring out which of the less ballyhooed recruits will make an impact is much more interesting and entertaining.
Over the last decade, there were guys like Fred Davis from Ohio who came in as a receiver but was too big and slow to make an impact and Morgan Breslin, who was just a little too small to become a dominant defensive end.
All Davis needed was a position change to tight end to win the Mackey award, and Breslin’s tenacity more than made up for his undersized frame.
These types of players, who flew under the radar in comparison to guys like Dwayne Jarrett and Nick Perry, are what makes college football so exciting. It’s not as if anyone USC recruits is unheralded, but there are different levels of expectations for different tiers of the recruiting class.
The last few years have brought in players who I thought would excel, but the jury is still out on a few of them.
Two of these Trojans, Steven Mitchell and Ajene Harris, had a promising spring. Another player who has had an underwhelming career thus far at USC, Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick, has a chance to have a great season at a thin tight end position.
This new full recruiting class brings in a ton of talent, with the best line backing group since Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga were recruited. One doesn’t need to be Tom Lemming to realize that Osa Masina and Porter Gustin will be future stars.
There are some other guys though, who haven’t received as much attention who I think will have phenomenal careers as Trojans.
The first is Sam Darnold, the second quarterback in this year’s recruiting class. Though Ricky Town is the lauded recruit coach Steve Sarkisian was able to pry from Alabama, Darnold has the skill set that better fits Sarkisian’s up tempo offense. Much like how Cody Kessler beat out Max Wittek, I believe the same will happen down the road for Darnold and Town.
Darnold has the scrambling ability that no Trojan quarterback since Rodney Peete and Reggie Perry have possessed. Additionally Darnold is almost 6-foot-4 with a fairly strong arm, which is always an added plus as a quarterback.
The second is Dominic Davis, another local recruit, who is one of three running backs in this class. Though not as highly ranked as fellow tailback Ronald Jones, Davis is lighting quick with an exceptional burst. He has a slight frame, but will be a threat to score every time he touches the ball.
The elite explosiveness he displayed is a rare commodity in college football. Though it might be premature to draw comparisons, Jahvid Best, the former tailback at Cal, has a similar build and skill set.
There will certainly be other surprises from this year’s recruiting class, and hopefully it is the one that puts USC back on track to compete for national titles.
It won’t be a surprise to me if Darnold and Davis play a pivotal role down the road in helping lead the Trojans back to their glory days.
Jake Davidson is a sophomore majoring in accounting. His column “Davidson’s Direction” runs Mondays.