Laying the Foundation: USC Recruiting in 2009 (Briggs and Martin)

It is being reported by both ESPN and Scout.com that Trajuan Briggs, the 5'11", 192 lbs running back from Birmingham High School has rescinded his verbal pledge to the Trojans and instead will sign with California.

Briggs, rated as a three-star running back who has been described as not "overly big, quick, or fast" may have seen the Trojan recruiting efforts cooling lately as USC continued their search for a big running back in the Lendale White or Allen Bradford mold.

Trajuan Briggs will never fit that criteria, and perhaps he saw the writing on the wall.

Whatever the case, California gets a running back that has also been described as having good vision and balance.

Briggs, who earlier had stated that he was "done with the recruiting process" after  pledging to the Trojans, joins a long list of recruits in recent years who have gone elsewhere after verbally committing to the Trojans.

However, it must be noted that the Briggs defection may be a result of either a mutual decision by both the Trojans and Briggs or may include mitigating circumstances not readily evident.

In this particular case, it appears that the loss of Briggs will be far less costly than other defections, and the Trojans most certainly will set their sights on other players who fit their requirements better.

In other news, Chris Martin, an ESPN top 150 defensive end, who originally pledged to Notre Dame, has also given his verbal commitment to the Cal Bears.

Martin, who decided to look elsewhere after the firing of Charlie Weis, also had offers, in addition to USC, from Florida and Oklahoma amongst others.

The addition of Briggs and Martin mark a very successful week of recruiting for Jeff Tedford and the Cal Bears, if, and this is never a given with high school athletes, they sign their name on the dotted line come February.

In the meantime, USC continues to be in the hunt for almost every highly rated prep athlete, but news remains quiet and only time will tell how successful the Trojans are in the 2009 recruiting season.