USC Football Quick Hits: Defensive Coordinator, Recruiting Updates

Well, it has been a very interesting 24 hours in college football. Thank God for smart phones as yesterday was EPIC. 

Oregon Ducks fans got their world turned upside down when Chip Kelly, who had formerly bowed down at the altar of Phil Knight to return to Oregon rather than take an NFL gig, took the Philadelphia Eagles head coaching gig formerly occupied by Andy Reid.

But, the plot thickens as not only did Kelly bolt for the NFL after swearing he wouldn’t, he bolted just after the deadline for juniors to declare for the NFL draft. Nicely played, sir.  Now it is open season on Oregon commits and we can all be sure USC is in the thick of it.

The four-lettered network is reporting that “sources” say USC has officially hired Clancy Pendergast to be their new defensive coordinator. “Sources,” are they for real? The source is Ryan Abraham and USCfootball.com (per ESPN, USCfootball.com).

It is a big recruiting weekend for the Trojans, with a slew of defensive players making the trip to the Los Angeles campus  including (per ESPN) the recently decommitted Eddie Vanderdoes, as well as current commits Jason Hatcher and Jalen Ramsey—both of whom are still being actively pursued by other programs.  Three linebackers are also making the trip to USC this week—Michael Hutchings, Quinton Powell and Matthew Thomas.

This afternoon, USCfootball.com reporter Gerard Martinez had some interesting things to say on twitter:

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Hearing the Trojans will have a few surprise official visitors on tape for their big recruiting weekend. Commits from other schools.

— Gerard Martinez (@gmartlive) January 18, 2013"

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One visitor confirmed for #USC this weekend is #UCLA commit Thomas Duarte.

— Gerard Martinez (@gmartlive) January 18, 2013"

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Some of the committed to other schools recruits rumored to be visiting USC this weekend include Oregon recruits (including potentially a set of highly sought after twins perhaps?) and UCLA commit Thomas Duarte, a Scout 4-star tight end. The rest can be found behind USCfootball.com's pay wall.