Carroll meets with Gwaltney

Long Island (N.Y.) North Babylon running back Jason Gwaltney met with USC head coach Pete Carroll on Tuesday. Did this visit put the Trojans on top?

"Nah, but I really liked the things he said," said the 6-foot-0, 234-pounder. "I don't have a leader between Ohio State and USC. Coach Tressel is coming in Wednesday night. But USC is a great program and he's a good person. Coach Carroll loves big running backs and said that I would have a good chance to play there early because Lendale White gets banged up a bit."

Gwaltney, the No. 15 running back in the country, is done with all his official visits and will announce his decision on ESPNews on Feb. 1 at 5:20PM EST from the ESPN Zone in Manhattan. West Virginia is also very much in the mix, although below the other two.

"I just got a six page letter from coach Hand and they're sending a bunch of coaches to my school on Thursday," said Gwaltney. "They're in there. There are reasons I committed to them early."

Gwaltney was toying with the idea earlier of taking an unofficial visit to Boston College this weekend, but that's out.

"I don't want to confuse the situation any more," he said. "I'm having a hard enough time now deciding where I'm going."