USC Recruiting: Trojans Get Richardson & Temple Verbals; Martin Re-Commits

From the department of "take a couple of days off, and USC's recruiting world blows up":

A few days ago, this column suggested that in the next few days the USC Trojans could be receiving some welcome news regarding their future on the defensive side of the ball.

Boy was that an understatement.

Sheldon Richardson, a massive 6'4", 270 lb defensive tackle who, according to Scout.com, is quick enough to play end, has de-committed from Missouri and given the Trojans his verbal pledge.

Richardson, who is rated a five-star prospect by Scout.com and currently plays for the College of the Sequoias, will have two years of Division I eligibility left.

For the Trojans, a team seeking interior defensive line help after this year, the verbal could not come at a better time.

Richardson, despite his strength, is extremely mobile, and this will come in handy as USC prepares for the Oregons of the future.

In choosing USC, Richardson turned down scholarship offers by Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee, among others.

However, in what could only be described as an embarrassment of riches, the Trojans received further help when Cody Temple, a 6'3", 285-lb prep from Liberty high school in Bakersfield, Calif., accepted an offer to play for the Trojans.

Temple, rated a three-star prospect by Scout.com, combines explosive quickness with raw power to form a package that, while somewhat raw, has big-time potential at the next level.

While Temple has excelled on the defensive line, he is expected to play on the offensive line for USC.

Temple had several offers on the table before choosing the Trojans.

Meanwhile, Marcus Martin, the mammoth offensive tackle from Crenshaw High School, has reiterated his commitment to the Trojans after saying he would like to "look around."

For the Trojans, this is big news on a couple of fronts.

Not only do the Trojans desperately need help on the offensive line, but Martin has been spending the last two years opening up holes for DeAnthony Thomas, the five-star running back-cornerback who gave USC a soft verbal earlier this summer.

This can't hurt USC's cause when it comes time for Thomas to sign his name on the dotted line.

Now the only question is what Lane Kiffin is going to do if the Trojans can get some of the other big-time recruits they have offered to bite come letter-of-intent signing day in February.

With limited scholarships to offer, this may turn into a dilemma for Coach Kiffin should some of these other highly-regarded recruits take the Trojans up on prior offers.

I guess this is a good problem to have, but there may be some disappointed recruits out there should USC run out of scholarships.

Still, Kiffin will have to cross that bridge when he gets there, and if he has to, it will mean that the Trojans have had another very successful recruiting year.

And that is a problem all coaches would love to have.