USC Football

USC has had some recent struggles ahead of national signing day on Wednesday.

Last season, the Trojans went 5-7 in their first losing campaign since 2000. Then, after hiring Kliff Kingsbury to serve as offensive coordinator in December, Kingsbury accepted an offer to become head coach of the Arizona Cardinals a month later.

Kingsbury's departure after a brief stint led to four wide receivers deciding to transfer.

The Trojans have also struggled on the recruiting trail. Entering Wednesday, they have the No. 17 class in the nation, per the 247Sports team rankings, which is much lower than past years for USC.

However, there is still time for the Trojans to boost their 2019 class with national signing day. It started on Tuesday night, when 3-star safety Dorian Hewett and 3-star defensive back Jayden Williams both committed to USC, pushing the Trojans' class to 24 commits.

USC has had strong finishes to recruiting seasons in the past. Below are some unsigned recruits who are still considering the Trojans entering Wednesday.

            

Top Remaining Recruits

Adonis Otey, CB, Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)

Otey has been committed to Arkansas since August, but there is a chance that he flips to USC at his signing day ceremony on Wednesday.

The 3-star cornerback took an official visit to USC this past weekend, as he cancelled his other remaining visits to Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Otey will be choosing between the Trojans and Razorbacks on Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. ET.

Otey is the No. 53 cornerback in the 2019 class per the 247sports composite rankings, as well as the No. 17 recruit from Tennessee.

Prediction: Otey could make an immediate impact on USC's defense, and that will lead to him flipping his commitment and signing with the Trojans. This could be the strong start to signing day that USC needs.

         

Enokk Vimahi, OG, Kahuku (Hawaii)

It appears to be a two-team race to land 4-star guard Vimahi, who is one of the best unsigned offensive linemen in the class. USC and Ohio State should be the two schools that have the best chance to land him on national signing day.

Vimahi will announce his decision, choosing between USC, Ohio State and Oklahoma, on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

This would be a signing that would help the Trojans in the long term. Vimahi plans to take a two-year mission trip after his freshman year of college, so he may not make an impact until later in his career.

Vimahi is the No. 7 guard in the 2019 class, as well as the No. 2 recruit from Hawaii, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Prediction: USC will land another commitment, and this could be its best of the day. Vimahi will decide to stay a bit closer to home by signing with the Trojans.

            

Hunter Hill, OT, Orem (Utah)

The Trojans will look to add another offensive lineman in Hill, a 3-star recruit who ranks as the No. 91 tackle and the No. 8 Utah recruit in the 2019 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Hill is deciding between USC, Washington State and Utah State on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

This past weekend, Hill took his final official visit to USC.

Hill will be signing at the same ceremony as 4-star wide receiver Puka Nacua, his Orem teammate. Nacua is a USC commit, but he has recently taken visits to Washington, Oregon and UCLA.

Prediction: Nacua will keep his commitment by signing with USC, and Hill will join him by committing to the Trojans. This will help bolster an already strong signing day for USC.

          

Other Unsigned Recruits Considering USC

Tuasivi Nomura, 3-star OLB/DB, Centennial (Corona, California)
Finalists: USC, UCLA, Iowa State, Louisville

Dawand Jones, 3-star OT, Ben Davis (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Finalists: USC, Ohio State, Florida, Penn State, Indiana

When USC hired program legend Lynn Swann to be its athletic director in 2016, the university took a calculated risk.

His visibility and recognition were clear positives for a school eager to benefit from his fundraising potential. Swann, an All-American receiver in the 1970s, had zero college administrative experience, but perhaps he could figure it out along the way.

Little more than two years into his tenure, that lack of experience is putting USC on the brink of implosion.

Kliff Kingsbury could've been the head coach of the future or at least revamped an offense in desperate need of improvement. Instead, he lasted five weeks as the Trojans offensive coordinator before painlessly leaving the school.

His departure was too easy. And in the process, USC lost its premier prospect, Bru McCoy, from a recruiting class already reeling from a seven-loss campaign in 2018.

The time for patience is over. The panic button shouldn't be far away. The university's marquee team is deteriorating, and Swann hasn't shown he's prepared to navigate the trouble.

In 2018, USC stumbled to 5-7―the program's worst finish in 18 years. Given the expectations, a coaching change would've been reasonable. That didn't happen in part because of Clay Helton's massive buyout, Arash Markazi reported for ESPN.

Helton's three-year extension in February 2018 was the reward for a Pac-12 championship, but it wasn't needed. Nobody was lining up to steal Helton from USC, yet he managed a $15 million buyout in that contract.

Swann must've put the decimal in the wrong spot for Kingsbury.

Although he was fired at Texas Tech―his alma mater―offense was rarely Kingsbury's problem. During his six seasons, the Red Raiders held top-25 rankings in points per game five times. Immediately after his dismissal, Kingsbury-to-NFL hype began.

When the inevitable interest came for USC's offensive coordinator, Swann did not grant the Cardinals or New York Jets permission to interview Kingsbury, per ESPN.com's Adam Schefter. That attempt to retain him was laughably ineffective for a simple reason.

According to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, Kingsbury's buyout was $150,000. That's a stunningly low number for an offensive mind of his caliber, and it allowed Kingsbury to easily sidestep the rejection.

The coach in no demand landed a $15 million buyout. The coach monitored all over the football world barely merited six figures.

If you spent 3 years attending classes at USC, you gave USC more money than the Cardinals had to pay USC for Kingsbury's buyout.

— Richard 🏳️‍🌈 (@Embowaf) January 8, 2019

Not only did USC take its sweet time hiring Kingsbury's replacement, but the delay also overlapped with an important recruiting period.

Bru McCoy quietly sent in his paperwork during the early signing period and announced at the All-American Bowl he would attend USC. Three days later, Kingsbury left. McCoy enrolled but understandably had a change of heart, departing for Texas after less than three weeks.

He's not the only prospect the uncertainty has affected.

Four-star running back Jordan Wilmore decommitted. Four-star receivers Kyle Ford and Puka Nacua are verbal pledges but are considering other schools as national signing day nears. Without a clear direction for three critical weeks, how could you blame them?

Plus, the transfer portal is littered with USC players. Randal Grimes, Josh Imatorbhebhe, Trevon Sidney, Bubba Bolden and Oluwole Betiku all decided to move on.

Debate the ceiling of those players all you'd like, but a program in good condition doesn't watch players leave like this.

Perhaps the only redeeming news is the search ended with a promising solution. New offensive coordinator Graham Harrell―a former Texas Tech QB, like Kingsbury―helped Seth Littrell build a tremendous attack at North Texas, which had previously been a disaster offensively.

This is what Seth Littrell told me in 2017 about having Graham Harrell run and call the North Texas offense at such a young age. #USC pic.twitter.com/Vc5UH9nnL6

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 29, 2019

Not rushing a hire can be important, and it's possible USC landed on the right person. But there wouldn't have been a better moment to reinforce what Swann touted: Helton's "plan in place" to improve staff and schemes.

Instead, it was another mishandled situation that stung the future of the program, something all too familiar lately.

If the Trojans' results don't improve in 2019, a different administrator and coach will likely be working to make those changes.

          

All recruiting information via 247Sports' composite rankings. Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.com or B/R research. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.

Kliff Kingsbury left the job of USC offensive coordinator long before getting a chance to coach in a single game in 2019, so the Trojans are turning to another former NFL and Texas Tech quarterback to fill the position.

USC hired North Texas offensive coordinator and former NFL signal-caller Graham Harrell to become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the Trojans announced Wednesday night.

Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports first reported the news on Monday.

The position was open after Kingsbury accepted the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals, and Harrell has a similar background. He played quarterback for the Red Raiders and made the NFL, although he played in just four games as a member of the Green Bay Packers.

Mac Engel of the Star-Telegram noted North Texas planned on offering Harrell a raise in an effort to convince him to stay after he turned down an offer to join North Carolina's staff, passed on interviewing at Florida State and drew the interest of USC.

That raise would have brought his annual salary to around $300,000, although Engel noted USC reportedly offered Kingsbury more than $1 million per season. The money and notoriety with the Trojans simply trumps what North Texas can offer.

North Texas won nine games in each of the last two seasons with Harrell helping operate the offense. It was a drastic turnaround after the program dealt with losing seasons in 11 of the prior 12 campaigns.

The Mean Green were 20th in the country in total yards per game in 2018 and 24th in 2017, employing an Air Raid attack with Harrell that found consistent success. USC clearly had that type of approach in mind when it hired Kingsbury, so this hiring follows.

The Trojans were just 5-7 last season and were 84th in the country in yards per game, so they will need to make significant strides under Harrell to return to national prominence.

The USC Trojans may lose one of their most promising wide receivers before he plays a single college football game. 

According to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, wide receiver recruit Bru McCoy—who has already started taking classes at USC—is in the NCAA transfer portal. According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, McCoy is a 5-star prospect and the No. 9 overall player and No. 1 athlete in the class of 2019.

High-profile transfers have been a dominant storyline throughout the early portion of the college football offseason, as Jalen Hurts transferred from Alabama to Oklahoma, Justin Fields transferred from Georgia to Ohio State and Tate Martell transferred from Ohio State to Miami, among others.

McCoy would be another talented player to switch schools if he does go through with the decision to transfer.

Burnt Orange Nation noted he originally committed to USC over the Texas Longhorns at the All-American Bowl but is having second thoughts after Kliff Kingsbury took the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals. Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator for the Trojans before departing for the NFL.

A transfer would give Texas head coach Tom Herman another opportunity to recruit McCoy as he looks to continue turning around the program. The Longhorns are coming off their first double-digit win season since 2009 and landed the No. 5 recruiting class in the country in the 2019 cycle, per 247Sports.

Adding McCoy from the transfer portal would only serve to make Texas' future all the brighter in the coming years.

USC Trojans head coach Clay Helton was diplomatic after Kliff Kingsbury ended his brief tenure as the Trojans offensive coordinator to become head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

"I am happy for Kliff," Helton said in a statement, per TMZ Sports. "Any time you get an opportunity to be an NFL head coach, it is special. He is a talented coach, that's why we brought him here. I wish him nothing but the best."

The Cardinals announced Kingsbury's hiring on Tuesday. The move came a little over a month after USC named him as its offensive coordinator.

In under two months, Kliff Kingsbury has been:

-Fired as Texas Tech head coach (Nov. 26)

-Hired as USC OC (Dec. 5)

-Hired by Arizona Cardinals as head coach (Jan. 8) pic.twitter.com/JRGEsQA6ub

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 8, 2019

Nobody should blame Kingsbury too much for how the situation unfolded.

He probably didn't expect to receive much NFL interest so soon after getting fired as Texas Tech's head coach. And it's easy for an outsider to tell a coach to resist NFL overtures when a lot can change in the space of a year—had Kingsbury stayed at USC through 2019 and then weighed his future.

To some extent, Helton might be relieved Kingsbury is no longer on the staff.

USC ranked 55th in S&P+ offense in 2018, per Football Outsiders.

Were the Trojans to turn things around, Kingsbury—not Helton—would've received most of the credit, and some fans may have called for Kingsbury to get promoted to head coach. Had the offense continued to struggle, the blame would have fallen on Helton, and he would have almost certainly been out of a job.

Having said that, Kingsbury's decision leaves USC in a tough spot as it looks for yet another offensive coordinator. The 39-year-old seemed to be a perfect fit for the Trojans given both his overall profile and creative pass-heavy approach.

As USC does everything in its power to keep Kliff Kingsbury, he could leave his post as offensive coordinator to interview with NFL teams. 

Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Kingsbury could resign from USC after athletic director Lynn Swann blocked multiple NFL franchises from speaking with the 39-year-old. 

Florio added Kingsbury's contract with USC has a low buyout, which may cause him to pay the school to get out of his deal and interview for potential NFL head coach and offensive coordinator jobs. 

ESPN.com's Adam Schefter reported Saturday that USC declined requests from the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets to speak with Kingsbury about their head coaching vacancies. 

USC hired Kingsbury as its offensive coordinator Dec. 5. Texas Tech fired him Nov. 25 after three straight losing seasons, including a 5-7 record in 2018. 

Despite a mediocre 35-40 mark at Texas Tech, Kingsbury has been one of the most discussed coaching candidates in the NFL.

Per Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, one reason Kingsbury is so attractive to NFL teams is because "everyone's looking for one of these passing guys" who can follow in the footsteps of recent hires such as Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears), Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams) and Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers). 

Kingsbury, who is a former quarterback at Texas Tech, coached multiple high-profile college quarterbacks, including Patrick Mahomes, Johnny Manziel and Case Keenum.

The USC Trojans' 2019 recruiting class got a big boost when Bru McCoy committed to play college football in Southern California on Saturday.

McCoy announced his decision at the 2019 Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio:

https://twitter.com/USC_Athletics/status/1081652933278613504

Before committing to USC, he was recruited by Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and Washington, among others. The 247Sports composite rankings list him as a 5-star player, California's No. 2 prospect and the seventh-best recruit in his class.

MaxPreps even named him as the best athlete the 2019 group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0fGbs_gZh0

"Being a 5-star was never really a goal of mine, but it's still a big deal from a recognition standpoint," McCoy said in February, per 247Sports' Greg Biggins. "I always hoped it would happen as a result of all the work I was putting in so I'm definitely honored by it."

USC had the No. 18 recruiting class for 2019 before the commitment, per 247Sports.          

McCoy is a huge pickup for Clay Helton's program. As talented as the Trojans have been in recent seasons, their 2019 recruiting class had been underwhelming. He provides them with their second 5-star commitment, along with Kyle Ford, who also announced his decision Saturday. 

Earlier this year, McCoy talked about the possibility of staying close to home and playing for USC:

The All-American later told USA Today High School Sports' Cam Smith: "Mainly the relationships or the overall feel on campus have been a big part of why these schools stand out to me. USC being a home school..."

The biggest question is where the 6'3", 212-pound star will play on the field. At California's Mater Dei, he played both receiver and linebacker. Biggins noted McCoy is talented enough to be a top-five player at both positions.

If it were up to McCoy, he'd love to continue to be a two-way player.

"It's kind of like a decision for the future," he told Bleacher Report's Mike Piellucci in June. "Say I do play in the NFL. Being able to play both ways makes me more dynamic. I'd hope that in a coach's eyes, they'll see, This kid can fit in anywhere if he's rushing the passer as well as he's catching the ball. He comes to this team, we can see which one he does better and now he's getting on the field faster."

Trojans fans now eagerly await his arrival on campus.

USC has landed its next star pass-catcher.

5-star wide receiver Kyle Ford announced his decision to play football for the Trojans starting next season on Saturday during the Army All-American Game. 

Boom! 5-star WR Kyle Ford commits to #USC @19AllAmerican pic.twitter.com/xZixBh6EtI

— Chris Treviño (@ChrisNTrevino) January 5, 2019

Ford, who starred at Orange Lutheran in California, was perhaps the biggest playmaker left to make his decision in the Class of 2019. 247Sports ranked him as the No. 29 overall player and fifth-best wideout.

https://twitter.com/Ford_Kyle6/status/1081633219777310720

USC has been a favorite throughout his recruitment. The crystal ball projections at 247Sports gave the Trojans an 88 percent chance of landing Ford in September. The proximity to Ford's home and USC's pedigree made them an early and obvious candidate.

"USC has picked things up and has been recruiting me a lot harder recently as well," Ford told Greg Biggins of 247Sports in August. "Tee Martin is the main coach I'm talking with and I'll probably take my official visit there after the season, that's usually when the in-state players go. I'm talking with UCLA as well and looking forward to seeing how they look this season. I was never able to make it over there for a visit but I'm for sure going to be going to a few games this season."

Washington also became a contender after an official visit.

"Washington is a definitely an option for me now," Ford said. "Their plan in how they develop you is ridiculous on and off the field. My parents and sister went with me and they loved it too. It’s a great program with a lot to offer so I'm very interested."

Ford is listed at 6'2" and 212 pounds and rocketed up rankings after winning the MVP at The Opening. 

The Trojans add a dynamic playmaker to an offense that is looking better each day. Quarterback JT Daniels is one year removed from being 247Sports' second-best pro-style quarterback recruit in the nation and has a full year of college experience under his belt.

New offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will bring a wide-open passing game to USC. Ford gives Daniels a No. 1 receiver he can trust to make plays down the field and use his body to catch the ball in traffic. 

USC isn't keen on letting Kliff Kingsbury interview with NFL teams as a potential head coach one month after the school hired him to be its offensive coordinator. 

Per ESPN.com's Adam Schefter, USC has denied the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets' requests to interview Kingsbury for their coaching vacancies. 

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted last month the NFL reminded teams about needing to request permission from college athletic directors to speak with coaches. An organization will be "subject to disciplinary action for conduct detrimental to the league" if it doesn't follow protocol. 

After Texas Tech fired him in November, Kingsbury became one of the hottest coaching candidates on the market. USC signed him Dec. 5 to become the offensive coordinator on Clay Helton's staff.

Per Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, executives from two other NFL teams said Kingsbury is on their radar but isn't being pursued for an interview. 

Kingsbury's offensive expertise would seem to make him a good NFL fit. He coached Patrick Mahomes from 2014 to 2016 at Texas Tech, and his teams averaged at least 30.5 points per game in each of his six seasons.