USC Trojans Football Recruits: Latest Verbal and a Couple Who Got Away

From the department of "every cloud has a silver lining...."

When the USC Trojans' season came to an abrupt end, courtesy of the NCAA, following a victory over the UCLA Bruins, head coach Lane Kiffin said the time normally used to prepare for a bowl game would instead be utilized for recruiting.

To that end, Kiffin, recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron and the rest of the USC staff hit the ground running and, almost immediately, their efforts paid off.

Starting with 5-star wideout George Farmer's verbal commitment on Friday, prep pledges began pouring in.

Next to give the Trojans a verbal commitment was 4-star JC corner back/safety Isaiah Wiley, followed by offensive tackle David Garness and fullback J.R. Tavai.

Garness and Wiley will both be early enrollment players and will not count against USC's diminished fall scholarships (although that reduction will be delayed as the NCAA hears the Trojans' appeal).

It turns out that Kiffin and company weren't through yet.

Today, 3-star linebacker Devante Wilson from Corona high school gave the Trojans a verbal pledge as well.

Wilson, who played mostly defensive end in high school, will likely move to the outside linebacker position to take advantage of his athleticism.

One of the knocks on Wilson is that he is a 5-star athlete who sometimes gives 2-star effort.

This will have to change for Wilson at the next level.

Rated as a 3-star prospect by Scout.com, Wilson also held offers from more than a dozen schools including Nebraska and Washington.

However, the news wasn't all good for the Trojans in the last few days.

A couple of weeks ago, 5-star JC defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson gave the Trojans a verbal commitment after spending the last year pledging devotion to the Missouri Tigers.

In interviews after the pledge, Richardson gave conflicting reasons for his change of heart and those in the know said this thing wasn't done.

They were right.

Richardson went back on his pledge to USC and instead will sign with his original suitor Missouri.

Having followed this soap opera, and after reading some of his facebook entries, I can honestly say that, despite Richardson's obvious talent, USC is probably better off without him.

Without going into detail, lets just say that Richardson and a coherent sentence won't be making an acquaintance anytime soon.

In other news:

Jason Gibson, a 4-star linebacker and teammate of George Farmer at Serra high school, recently gave his verbal commitment to the UC-Berkelely.

The Trojans thought they stood a real shot at landing Gibson but the Serra connection wasn't strong enough.

Finally, Jacob Fahrenkrug, a 4-star offensive lineman from North Dakota State JC has given his pledge to Florida State.

Though Fahrenkrug never had the Trojans high on his list, he would have provided much needed depth for USC, especially after Tyron Smith's announcement that he will be leaving early for the NFL.

Though the productive last few days of recruiting have been tempered by the early NFL departures of Smith and defensive tackle Jurrel Casey, much ground has been made up in terms of depth by the Trojan's recruiting department.

And if the Trojans don't have anymore Sheldon Richardsons in their midst, they will be just fine at the end of the day.