USC Recruiting: George Farmer Pulls Trigger, Will Lane Kiffin Change Offense?

The George Farmer sweepstakes now appears to be over.

And those large smiles radiating from Trojanville belong to quarterback Matt Barkley and anyone associated with the USC football program.

There is plenty of reason to smile, to be sure.

With Scout.com reporting that Farmer, the all-everything five-star wide receiver from Serra High School, had given the Trojans his verbal commitment, USC now possesses perhaps the best wide receiver corps in the nation.

Farmer, the 6'2-1/2", 210 pound, 4.38 speedster had been somewhat waffling between the Trojans, Oregon, Miami and Florida but between coaching changes at Miami and Florida and an in-home visit by USC assistant coaches, John Morton and Kennedy Pola, Farmer, long considered a heavy Trojan "lean," finally got it out of the way.

Now Farmer reunites with former Serra wide receiver Robert Woods to form perhaps the most talented wideout combo since Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett were lighting it up for Matt Leinart in 2005.

In George Farmer, the Trojans get a fast and physical wide receiver whose only knock is that sometimes he loses focus and drops easy passes.

That will certainly change under the tutelage of Morton and Pola.

And when it does, young Farmer, who just ran a 10.6 100 meters, will give opposing offensive coordinators nightmares.

Now comes the difficult part for head coach Lane Kiffin.

What to do with all this talent at the skill positions?

Kiffin has gone on record saying that with a lack of depth on the offensive line and the graduation of Stanley Havili at fullback, he may have to consider going to a modified spread offense to utilize all that speed the Trojans now possess.

This also makes logistic sense for USC in that the restructured 2011 offensive line would not have to hold blocks as long and the Trojans can run sets without a fullback at all.

But it goes deeper than that.

And it all starts with Woods and Farmer and 2010 freshman running back Dillon Baxter.

With extraordinary talent on the edge and Baxter, a highlight film in waiting, Matt Barkley, despite his own dearth of speed, can distribute the ball in multiple sets that will have opponents continuously on their heels.

That isn't a place you want to be if you are charged with defending these erstwhile blazers.

Oh, and lets not forget that 2010 commit Victor Blackwell and 2011 commits Jayden Mickens and Jordan Payton also wait in the wings.

Now, it should be understood that the Trojans will not run any form of the spread all of the time.

But given the realities of who USC will have personnel-wise, Kiffin will have to look long and hard at developing some form of a quick-strike offense.

For traditional USC fans, and Lane Kiffin himself, it is quite a conundrum.

USC has long been known for running a pro-style offense and the abundance of Trojan signal callers in the NFL provides testimony to their prowess in this type of offense.

Now that may change.

And the tipping point for that change probably came last night with the verbal commitment of George Farmer.

Still, as Sheryl Crow can tell you, a change can do you good.

It's a problem that Lane Kiffin should be glad to have.

And one that Matt Barkley is certain to exploit.