USC Football: Trojans Projected Depth Chart After 2011 Top Four Recruiting Class
USC Trojan fans … time to take a deep breath and recognize the fact that USC’s coaches pulled off a remarkable top four recruiting class for 2011, and more importantly filled the positions of need.
This accomplishment in spite of NCAA sanctions was recognized on Feb. 3 by Scout.com/FoxSports.com who recognized USC coach Ed Orgeron as National Recruiter of the Year. Head coach Lane Kiffin, Kennedy Pola, Joe Barry, John Baxter, Monte Kiffin and the other USC coaches worked tirelessly to make sure the USC recruits had all the information needed to make a good decision.
Sure there were some disappointments, but the gains far outweighed the losses and this class was exactly what the Trojans needed.
USC received signed NLI from the following uncommitted athletes on NSD: 3-star CB Ryan Henderson, 4-star LB Lamar Dawson, 4-star OL Aundrey Walker, 4-star DT Christian Heyward, 3-star Athlete Javorius “Buck” Allen, 4-star Athlete Marqise Lee, 4-star WR/TE Junior Pomee. These followed a Jan. 30 commitment from 4-star OL Cyrus Hobbi, and recent commitments from 4-star RB Amir Carlisle and 4-star LB Anthony Sarao after de-committing from Stanford.
Kiffin said, "We've been able to add 30 players to our roster. A roster that, prior to this class, had 50 scholarship players, has now gone to 80, with the possibility of more soon to come [there are three more slots, hopefully including DE Steve Dillon] . . . and to go out and add a bunch of local players and especially from Southern California, then to go to places like Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, Cleveland and Arizona to add some out-of-state players as well."
"We followed the guidelines of what we could do. We could sign a maximum of 25 today, not counting the mid-years that went into last year's class.”
USC has now increased from 71 scholarship athletes in 2010 to 80 in 2011. This will help tremendously with depth issues, and maybe the Trojans will even be able to tackle in practice this season.
There is a lot of work to do over the next seven months to determine the depth chart for 2011. Here is the projected depth chart subject to spring and fall practice. Let’s hear what you think should be different.
P.S. A special thanks to B/R member Daniel Ayersman for suggesting this article. Rivals.com ranks the Pac-12 recruiting by position and USC is at the top of the categories where needed.
Offensive Line Projected Depth Chart
1 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
LEFT TACKLE
Matt Kalil, 6-7 295 JR*
David Garness, 6-5 290 JR
#Nathan Guertler 6-5 265 FR*
^Cyrus Hobbi, 6-4, 285 FR
Giovanni Di Poalo, 6-5 295 FR*
#Patrick Kim 6-3 305 FR*
CENTER
Khaled Holmes, 6-4 300 JR*
Abe Markowitz, 6-1 280 JR*
^Cody Temple, 6-3 280 FR**
John Martinez, 6-2 290 SO*
Jeremy Galten, 6-4 285 JR
^Marcus Martin, 6-3 340 FR**
Kevin Graf, 6-6 300 SO*
^Aundrey Walker, 6-6 375 FR
Martin Coleman, 6-5 335 SR*
Receivers Projected Depth Chart
2 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
Rhett Ellison, 6-5 245 SR*
Christian Thomas, 6-3 240 SO
Xavier Grimble, 6-6 245 FR*
Randal Telfer, 6-4 230 FR*
^Junior Pomee, 6-3 235 FR**
#Eric Childs 6-4 230 JR*
Kyle Prater, 6-5 215 FR*
^George Farmer, 6-1 205 FR
Markeith Ambles, 6-2 215 FR*
#Tim McGuigan 6-0 165 SR*
#Kevin Noble 6-2 185 SR*
Robert Woods, 6-1 185 SO
Brandon Carswell, 6-1 195 SR*
De’Von Flournoy, 6-0 180 SO*
^Victor Blackwell, 6-1 185 FR**
^Marqise Lee, 6-1 187 FR
#Robbie Boyer 6-0 180 JR*
#Nic Curry 5-11 190 SR*
#James Wright 5-10 190 JR*
Running Backs and Quarterback Projected Depth Chart
3 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
Marc Tyler, 5-11 230 SR*
Dillon Baxter, 6-0 195 SO
D.J. Morgan, 6-0 175 FR*
Curtis McNeal, 5-7 185 JR*
^Amir Carlisle, 5-10 180 FR**
^Javorius Allen, 6-1 210 FR**
FULLBACK
^Soma Vainuku, 6-2 255 FR
^Simione Vehikite, 6-0 220 SO*
#Hunter Simmons 6-3 235 SO*
#K.C. Pola 6-0 210 FR*
Matt Barkley, 6-2 220 JR
Jesse Scroggins, 6-3 205 FR*
^Cody Kessler, 6-1 208 FR**
^Max Wittek, 6-4 215 FR**
#John Manoogian 6-0 215 JR*
#Brett Kan 6-2 195 JR*
#Anthony Neyer 6-2 200 SO*
#Emon Saee 6-2 200 JR
Defensive Line Projected Depth Chart
4 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
Armond Armstead, 6-5 295 SR
Kevin Greene, 6-3 250 SO*
^Greg Townsend Jr., 6-3 275 FR**
#Zack Kusnir 6-6 260 SR*
Christian Tupou, 6-2 290 SR*
^Antwaun Woods, 6-1 325 FR
^J. R. Tavai, 6-2 270 FR**
#Conrad Tavarez 5-11 285 FR*
DaJohn Harris, 6-4 305 SR*
George Uko, 6-4 300 FR*
^Christian Heyward, 6-2 275 FR**
WEAKSIDE END
Nick Perry, 6-3 250 JR*
Wes Horton, 6-5 260 JR*
James Boyd, 6-5 245 SO*
^DeVante Wilson, 6-4 235 FR**
#Peter Yobo 6-5 235 SR*
Linebacker Projected Depth Chart
5 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
^Lamar Dawson, 6-2 230 FR
Hayes Pullard, 6-2 225 FR*
Ross Cumming, 6-1 230 JR*
^Charles Burks, 6-1 220 FR
#Augusto Allonso 6-1 210 JR*
Devon Kennard, 6-3 250 JR
Dallas Kelley, 6-0 230 JR*
^Anthony Sarao, 6-1 220 FR**
#Will Andrew 6-2 225 SO*
Chris Galippo, 6-2 250 SR
Shane Horton, 6-0 220 SR*
Marquis Simmons, 6-1 225 SO*
^Tre Madden, 6-0 220 FR**
#Luke Freeman 5-10 200 SO*
#Austin Rittenour 6-1 190 JR*
Defensive Backs Projected Depth Chart
6 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
STRONG SAFETY
Jawanza Starling, 6-1 195 JR
Drew McAlister, 6-1 195 JR*
Marshall Jones, 5-11 185 SR*
Demetrius Wright, 6-1 205 SO
#Greg Caruso 6-2 170 FR*
T.J. McDonald, 6-3 205 JR
^Marqise Lee, 6-1 187 FR
#Tony Burnett 6-1 195 JR*
Dion Bailey, 6-1 195 FR*
#Cody Romness 5-11 175 JR*
Torin Harris, 6-1 185 SO*
^Isiah Wiley, 6-1 185 JR
Patrick Hall, 6-0 190 FR*
Brian Baucham, 5-11 175 JR*
#Boomer Roepke 5-9 180 SR*
#William Rojas 5-10 175 SR*
Nickell Robey, 5-8 165 SO
T.J. Bryant, 6-0 180 SR
Anthony Brown, 6-0 185 FR*
^Ryan Henderson, 5-10 170 FR**
#Daniel Harper 5-10 180 SR*
#Ashton Taylor 5-8 170 SR*
# James Harbin 5-10 175 SR*
Special Teams Projected Depth Chart
7 of 7
*Players that have exhausted their redshirt year
**Possible redshirt in 2011
#Non-scholarship (walk-on) players
^Players scheduled to join the team this Fall
PUNTER
^Kris Albarado, 5-11 200 FR
#Kyle Negrete 6-0 210 SR
KICKER
^Andre Heidari, 5-11 190 FR
#Craig McMahon 6-2 180 FR*
HOLDER
#John Manoogian 6-0 215 JR*
#Robbie Boyer 6-0 180 JR*
Chris Pousson, 6-4 240 SR
^Peter McBride, 6-2 210 FR**
Robert Woods, 6-1 185 SO
Robert Woods, 6-1 185 SO
De’Von Flournoy, 6-0 180 SO*
Dillon Baxter, 6-0 195 SO
Curtis McNeal, 5-7 185 JR*
D.J. Morgan, 6-0 175 FR*
Nickell Robey, 5-8 165 SO
