Guy came to my door the other day doing a fundraiser for his high school’s athletic department. Glad i didn’t give him anything
USC has 23 commits right now and it seems like they get new crystal balls or whatever the on3 version of it is every day. How many of these guys actually sign with them in December? Seems like SC is always churning through guys down the stretch every year and Bowden always got early commits at ND that bailed in the end. Even if they're decent this year it seems they'll still probably lose 8-10 of these guys.
Bowden’s strategy has always been pushing kids to early commit for the sake of “momentum” and then hoping they stick - regardless of how soft the commitment is - thereafter. If they flip, just question the kid’s character to your own beat and cry foul. He did some dirty work with Peyton Bowen and Deuce Knight. Though by the time Deuce came around, most people at ND figured out the grift and predicted Deuce would be gone pretty early on in that commitment.
the ones who stay are staying for the money because Lincoln Riley is a shitty coach and Chad Bowden is a douche extraordinaire.
USC kinda feels like they have their shit in more order now. I’m sure they lose some, but this time feels a bit more organized and different to me anyways
Agreed. 14 of these kids are from California. They've signed 11 kids total out of CA in the last two classes. Would think that helps at least somewhat with the attrition later. But 23 commits this early seems insane.
It's funny because everyone else said it about Bowden when he was there and I don't remember getting the same level of agreement from ND folks.
Before the Deuce Knight recruitment, I totally agree. But that one started flipping the script pretty considerably for anyone that wasn’t a complete homer. The extent to which Chad was involved with creating the drama took some time to get out. Also, even the most ardent ND homer realized that we were getting off to great recruiting starts and then fizzling as time went on each year. Objectively, it was impossible to not realize that and expect the same to happen at USC given their start. The perception of Bowden changing post-departure is a fair point though, no doubt.
USC seemingly had zero plan in the portal or HS recruiting in years past. Just carpet bombed the country and inexplicably ignored California largely. I think they have a pretty decent staff there now and at minimum Bowden brought some organization that didn’t exist from what it seems like on the outside
100%. I also think they gained a lot of alignment as an institution this past year when it comes to support which will go a really long way. Bowden is both a really big child who lacks a lot of maturity, but also really effective at his job. His schtick works really well with young people. ND fans experienced both during and after his time there. I also don’t blame him one bit for targeting ND kids in the portal. Who wouldn’t go after kids you already have a relationship with and intimate knowledge of their potential?
I wonder if usc and maybe some other schools are unloading some “signing bonus” type cash if kids commit now early ahead of the rev share cap stuff and that’s how they are getting so many early commits.
maybe USC has their NIL ducks in a row finally. Cant imagine Riley has many more seasons left at this rate
Miami was trying to get him and Cantwell, but looks like they put all their OL allocation into Cantwell.
The SC plan seems to be to take 40 commits and hope that 25 of them decide to sign in December. They have 6 OL commits and are chasing several more. Also have 5 DT commits and 4-5 CBs.
USC has to be giving exploding NIL offers with huge upfront bonuses to commit on a date or something No clue how they'd otherwise get a kid out of Akron now
So far the cringiest was when ScoopDuck published that they thought the door might be opening to flip Henry Jr only for him to close his crootment like a day later
I kinda love these recruiting writers being stuffed in lockers because they can’t manipulate every kid to give up their choice beforehand pre-NIL then spoil it Wiltfong was the worst and he’s pretty useless now
Wiltfong has been so useless lately he responds to posters giving him shit about it. When Chad starts doing this we will know the end is near.