V for Victory: USC is recruiting champ
The ink is dry, the press conferences are over, the fax machines are silent and the celebrating has been completed. Signing Day for the class of 2004 is in the books. Now that the smoke has cleared, Rivals.com presents a look at its national top 25 and this year’s recruiting national champion.
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Rivals.com is proud to crown USC as the recruiting national champion for the Class of 2004. The Trojans did something that had not been done in Rivals.com history by landing eight five-star prospects.
The previous high was Texas and Tennessee, which both signed six five-star players in the class of 2002. That alone is impressive, but it’s more impressive when you look at a few other factors.
First, there are fewer five-star players in the Class of 2004. This year there was a total of 34 high school and junior college prospects who received five-star rankings. In the class of 2002, there were more than 50 players who earned five-star rankings from the high school and junior college ranks.
What’s also scary is that USC out-distanced its opponents by a margin of five more five-star prospects. LSU and Oklahoma signed three five-star recruits. There is little doubt that USC fans were excited about their efforts, but not as excited as Trojan head coach Pete Carroll.
“There are a lot of players that we expect to come in and make an immediate contribution in this class,” Carroll said. “I look at guys like Jeff Byers, the nation’s top offensive lineman, and know that he has the ability to come in and come from a starting spot at center.
“But he’s just one of the many excellent players and excellent young men that we signed today. This whole process has been exciting and the perfect ending to what has been a dream season. Our coaches worked really hard, and we feel that we’ve taken some great strides to keeping this program at the national championship level.”
It’s hard to point out just one or two players that top USC’s class because it’s so deep with talent, but Jeff Byers, the nation’s top offensive center, Keith Rivers, the nation’s No. 1 linebacker, and Taitusi Luti, the nation’s top junior college prospect, lead the way.
Last year’s champs, LSU, finished No. 2 this year. In any other year LSU might have finished at No. 1 again, but that proves how solid USC's class is. Yet, LSU’s class was also special.
Early Doucet of St. Martinville, La., is the star of this Tiger class. But Doucet, who is ranked as the nation’s top receiver by Rivals.com, is rivaled by fellow five-star receiver Xavier Carter. Carter, who as ranked as the nation’s No. 5 receiver and is arguably the fastest athlete.
Tiger fans will also enjoy watching offensive linemen Ryan Miller and Herman Johnson in Baton Rouge over the next four or five years.
Florida State made one of the most impressive late runs, and Coach Bobby Bowden proved once again why he is one of the best closers in the game. The Seminoles finish at No. 3 in the Rivals.com team rankings. Florida State’s January flurry of four-star commitments allowed it to take over the mantle as the top recruiting team in Florida after finishing behind Miami and Florida in 2003.
The star of FSU’s class has to be Daytona Beach, Fla., star Xavier Lee, a five-star dual-threat quarterback who is ranked as the nation’s No. 10 player overall. Quarterbacks beware: FSU also cleaned up at linebacker with commitments from four-star backers Jae Thaxton, Lawrence Timmons and Rodney Gallon.
After sitting at the bottom of the national top 10 for a while, Miami made a major charge on signing day to the No. 4 spot with additions of the nation’s No. 1 outside linebacker, Willie Williams, and the nation’s No. 1 strongside defensive end, Rhyan Anderson. The Canes also scored with a nice defection from running back Andrew Johnson, who had previously been a Pittsburgh commitment.
But the star of the class is Williams, ranked as the nation’s No. 6 player overall by Rivals.com.
“I feel great about today,” Williams said. “It was a difficult decision, but in the end I just had to follow my heart.”
Michigan did damage all over the nation and finished with the nation’s No. 5 class. After an impressive job in state with a commitment from Alex Mitchell, the top player in the state, the Big Blue went out and landed the nation’s No. 3 quarterback Chad Henne right from under Penn State’s nose.
The biggest news on a national front involved Pittsburgh.
The Panthers lost four of their commitments on signing day, including the nation’s No. 2 quarterback inAnthony Morelli, who flipped to Penn State. Florida also made a big splash by snagging four-star Michael Brown away from Georgia.