USC Football Recruiting 2015: Great Class Should Make Fans Cautiously Optimistic

While the USC Trojans were one of the biggest winners after national signing day, let's not get too ahead of ourselves planning for a national title celebration.

By almost all accounts, USC head coach Steve Sarkisian worked wonders on the recruiting trail. Bleacher Report ranked the Trojans' 2015 class as the second-best in the country, a place the team also occupied on 247Sports' list.

"This is a great day for our program. We signed a quality group of guys that addresses each position group," said Sarkisian, per ESPN.com's Garry Paskwietz. "We had an emphasis on size and speed, and I think you really see the size part on defense. This is a class that's going to win a lot of football games at USC and represent the university well."

Here's a look at some of their most prized additions.

Player	Pos.	Overall Ranking	Pos. Ranking
Iman Marshall	CB	4	1
Rasheem Green	DT	23	5
Chuma Edoga	OG	26	1
Osa Masina	OLB	35	3
Ronald Jones II	RB	39	3
Porter Gustin	OLB	41	4
John Houston	OLB	49	6
Marvell Tell	S	60	4
Jacob Daniel	DT	69	10
Ricky Town	QB	79	6

Of course, you don't have to tell Trojan fans that strong recruiting classes aren't a guarantee for success. As B/R's Ben Kercheval noted in his piece Thursday, USC ranked third, 13th, ninth and 12th during Lane Kiffin's three-and-a-half seasons, yet the team finished a rather pedestrian 28-15 under Kiffin's stewardship.

Part of that unfulfilled promise was down to the lingering effects from the NCAA sanctions. Now that those are in the program's past, Sarkisian can begin building up the depth that's been woefully lacking over the last few years.

Kercheval added, however, that Sarkisian proved an adept recruiter at Washington but couldn't get the Huskies over the hump in his five years at the school:

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Similarly, Sarkisian flexed his recruiting muscles when he was the head coach at Washington. From 2010-13, the Huskies finished with a top-25 class every single year. The problem, however, was that Washington never won more than eight games in a season under Sarkisian. 

Granted, Sarkisian inherited a terrible program at Washington, which went winless in 2008 and won 12 games in the previous five seasons before his arrival. Plus, the Huskies played in the more top-heavy Pac-12 North.

All the same, Sarkisian has to show that he's different from Kiffin, who landed a lot of big-time recruits but lost even bigger games.

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USC didn't exactly pull up any trees in 2014.

First came the road loss to Boston College, one in which the Trojans turned a 17-6 lead into a 30-17 deficit and allowed 452 yards on the ground. A few more lackluster defeats followed, with the coup de grace the 38-20 loss to UCLA.

Realistically, the Trojans weren't preseason national title favorites, but they were ranked 15th and 14th, respectively, in The Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches' Poll, to begin the year according to ESPN.com. They finished 20th and 21st in the same two polls at the conclusion of the campaign.

Nobody's arguing that Sarkisian should be fired or anything based off one season, but it's not completely unfair to wonder whether he is truly the man who can take USC back to the promised land. We'll only know that for sure after another two or three years.

While Sarkisian helped bring some optimism back to the fanbase, it's clear success won't come overnight.

Grantland's Matt Hinton wrote that USC will first need to top its inner-city rival before eying up the best teams in the country:

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But USC still has a little ways to go before the roster is back at full strength, much less until it reaches the point at which it can realistically expect to overtake the likes of Alabama or Ohio State on the field. In the meantime, the Trojans’ real competition remains just across town, where UCLA — owner of a three-game winning streak against USC, all by double digits — orchestrated a late-breaking coup of its own, adding running back Soso Jamabo, cornerback DeChaun Holiday, and tight end Chris Clark to a class that already included the nation’s no. 1 incoming quarterback, Josh Rosen, and five-star defensive end Keisean Lucier-South.

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According to ESPN Stats & Info, UCLA was among the biggest risers:

The Bruins aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

All of this is to say that USC's future looks bright but is far from assured.

The Texas Longhorns continually got in great players under Mack Brown but massively underachieved in his final four years. The program is now paying for that stagnation in a big way.

USC fans have every reason to be excited for 2015 and beyond. But they should be willing to endure one or two more years of nine- or 10-win seasons before the team is truly in the national title discussion again.

Note: Recruit star ratings and overall rankings courtesy of 247Sports.