Pac-12 Coaches Have Brutally Honest Reaction To USC's Recruiting Class
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 24: Head coach Clay Helton of the USC Trojans walks his team down the tunnel at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to play against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on November 24, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The once dominant West Coast power in USC is crumbling. If there's any hope of a rebuild, the priority must be recruiting.
Southern California is home to some of the best high school players in the country. The Trojans have traditionally snagged just about each and every elite prospect in their own backyard. But times have changed.
As USC's trajectory has spiraled downward, Pac-12 schools like Oregon and Washington have been the main beneficiaries. Top programs like Alabama and Clemson are also starting to reap the benefits of the Trojans' downfall as well, snagging big-time recruits out of the Sunshine State.
USC's latest 2020 recruiting class is one of its worst in program history so far. The Trojans current have the nation's 79th ranked recruiting class, according to 247Sports. Programs like Troy, Bowling Green and Western Michigan all finished with better class rankings, at least for the early signing period portion.
This is quickly falling apart for USC - as if it wasn't already. Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman recently spoke to several Pac-12 coaches regarding Clay Helton and his program. Even they can't believe what's going on in Southern California.
"Talking to coaches in the Pac-12, seeing a lot of the recruits they've signed - at least in the early signing period - people feel like these are Mountain West caliber players," Feldman said, via
"This was a good crop of players in California and they went other places"@BruceFeldmanCFB and @joelklatt discuss USC's early signing period woes. pic.twitter.com/QDJR3HMjQc
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 21, 2019
">FOX College Football. "It's one thing if you sign this kind of class at Washington State or Oregon State. But USC? There's a lot of big time kids - this was a good crop of players, by and large, in the state of California, especially in Southern California. And they went other places. A lot of them went to Oregon. The best ones went to Oregon. They went outside the conference."
USC is capable of pulling in top-5 recruiting classes each and every year. But with the current regime, that seems like an impossible dream.
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"This was a good crop of players in California and they went other places"@BruceFeldmanCFB and @joelklatt discuss USC's early signing period woes. pic.twitter.com/QDJR3HMjQc
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 21, 2019
">FOX College Football]
