USC’s Disappointing Season Will Spell Disaster for Future Recruiting Classes

Matt Cashore-US PRESSWIRE

After serving its final year of their bowl ban, the USC Trojans football program still finds itself in muddy water.  The No. 6 ranked team in California, formerly ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, will now have to develop their next recruiting class to keep their future looking bright, and it might not come so easy.

Though Lane Kiffin has kept his No. 1 ranked 2013 class (according to Rivals.com) from jumping ship, this year’s disappointing season is a telling sign of a USC program in turmoil.  This year, Kiffin had some of the best pure talent players in all of college football, including a top-10 prospective draft pick in quarterback Matt Barkley.  As a result of the team’s recent hardship, it’s caused its two biggest rivals — UCLA and Notre Dame (both teams of which beat USC this season) — to climb up the college football ranks.

With a 38-28 win over the Trojans this season, UCLA may have solidified their mark in earning a top-tier recruiting class for the next year or so.  Regional recruiting in the LA area has been of extreme importance in developing a nationally ranked team and the more the Bruins keep winning, the more their impressing future recruits.

Even more impressive, UCLA is in line to win the PAC-12 Championship, an achievement that has escaped them since 1998.  That said, the Bruins are on an upward trajectory towards a lengthy stay at the top of their division in the next few years.

As for Notre Dame, the Irish will have the privilege of garnering in top-tier talent in the next few years as well with their impressive 22-13 win over the Trojans this season.  Not that they would have otherwise received it, considering the team clinched a spot in the BCS National Title game with their undefeated season (12-0).

Now, head coach Brian Kelly will have the luxury of pitching top national recruits that the Fighting Irish have restored their once historic program to even greater heights.

Either way you draw it up, USC will be reeling from a disappointing recruiting season as they continue forward.  And what’s worse, their rivals will reap the benefits.