Laying the Foundation: USC Football Recruiting, 2011: Meet Max Wittek

Usually, weekends are rather slow for prep football recruiting, but not this one.

Wanting to get the process behind him, fast-rising quarterback Max Wittek from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., gave his verbal commitment to Lane Kiffin and the Trojans on Sunday.

Wittek, labeled a “four star” recruit by Scout.com, has seen his scholarship offers rise dramatically following an impressive junior year when he threw for 2,158 yards and 15 touchdowns.

In accepting the Trojans' offer, Max Wittek spurned such prominent programs as Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, and Notre Dame, along with cross-town UCLA.

The 6’3", 205-pound gunslinger has a cannon for an arm and just needs seasoning to turn into a premier signal caller.

Mater Dei has historically been a quarterback pipeline for the Trojans, delivering former Heisman winner Matt Leinart and current USC starting quarterback Matt Barkley.

Now Max Wittek will take his turn in the cardinal and gold and Lane Kiffin and company can turn their attention elsewhere knowing that the future is well taken care of at the position.

However, not all the news on the Trojan recruiting front has been positive, with a couple of prep players that they have offered deciding to give their verbal commitments elsewhere.

Cedric Reed, the four-star defensive end from Cleveland, Texas, gave his verbal to the Longhorns as expected.

In addition to Reed, DJ Pettway, a defensive tackle from Pensacola, Fla., whom the Trojans had recently offered, decided instead to cast his lot with the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide. This too came as no surprise.

Meanwhile, Ed Orgeron and Co. remain active on the recruiting front, offering to three more prep players, all of whom reside outside of California.

So while Trojan fans celebrate the verbal commitment of Max Wittek, let’s take a look at these three potential Trojans:

Tim Jernigan

The decision to offer this five-star (as rated by Scout.com) defensive tackle came as no shocker, but what is a surprise is that it took the Trojans so long to do it. A 6’2,” 275-pound beast that simply destroys offensive linemen, Jernigan has everything you look for in a defensive interior linemen.

Jernigan, who holds offers from all the major programs in Florida as well as Alabama in addition to the Trojans, lists them all as “medium” on his interest list.

Donavon Clark

The Trojans have been casting their nets far and wide for offensive linemen and Donavon Clark is the latest to draw the Trojans interest.

Clark, a 6’4,” 300-pounder who is very versatile, is a sleeper who is rated as a three-star but who is rising fast.

As he enters his senior year, expect Clark to draw more interest from the traditional powers, but with the Trojans getting in on the ground floor, it can only serve USC well.

At this point, Clark holds offers, in addition to the Trojans, from North Carolina State and West Virginia among others, and they all are rated as medium in Clark's datebook.

James Maiden

As stated before, the Trojans are looking everywhere for offensive linemen and they think they found a sleeper in James Maiden.

Rated as only a single star recruit at this time, Maiden has the size (6’4” and 265 pounds) and the ability to grow into a true star at the tackle position.

Joining the Trojans in offering Maiden are such programs as LSU and Ole Miss and James Maiden rates them all as medium on his list of suitors.

That will do it for the Trojans in terms of recruiting news but the verbal from Max Wittek is huge from USC’s perspective.

Wittek was the quarterback that the Trojans most wanted (with the exception of Braxton Miller who is expected to sign with hometown Ohio State) and now that they have his verbal, the Trojans can turn their attention elsewhere.

If Wittek continues the Mater Dei Monarch tradition of supplying polished, talented signal callers to the Trojans, USC fans everywhere will be very happy.

And with Jesse Scroggins already in the fold, the quarterback position for the Trojans looks to be in good hands for years to come.