War Room
John Hoppe
USC out of the picture for Elias Ricks?
Five-star Mater Dei cornerback Elias Ricks made a surprising early commitment on Christmas morning, picking LSU over perceived favorite USC. Ricks was a candidate to commit early, and there was a sense that he was ready to commit to head coach Clay Helton in the summer. There was even buzz that he made a silent pledge around that time to the Trojans. However, the Tigers were always a legit contender based on their DBU status and the relationship Ricks built with LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, ironically, while attending youth camps as a child at USC.
The 2020 signing day is a year away, so there is plenty of time for USC to catch up. A Pac-12 Championship run could be more than enough to get Ricks back into the fold. Or will it? A source with knowledge of Ricks' recruitment said don't count on Ricks eventually finding his way to USC in the end. The source also suggested that the family is already making plans to follow the five-star cornerback down to the Bayou. While that is disheartening news for Trojan fans, we still believe that USC is certainly not out of the race yet. However, Helton and defensive backs coach Greg Burns will have a big uphill battle ahead of them.
Miscalculation on McCullough
As we reported a week and a half before the early signing period, the son of former USC running backs coach Deland McCullough was offered a scholarship by Clay Helton. Deland McCullough II is a three-star defensive back for Blue Valley North in Overland Park (Kan.). Helton personally called the younger McCullough to offer him the scholarship and set up an official visit with USC for the weekend of Dec. 14. However, McCullough II was not one of the 15 official visitors on campus that weekend.
McCullough II ended up signing with Miami of Ohio, which is the program where his father and grandfather both played. It’s a great family story, but it doesn’t explain McCullough II’s absence from USC two weeks ago. Evidently, USC told McCullough II that they were full at defensive back position. This is when Palmdale (Calif.) three-star athlete Chris Roland appeared to be leaning toward de-committing from Arizona. A few days before the visit, the coaching staff informed McCullough II and his family that they did not have room to take their commitment. Although his commitment to Miami of Ohio continues the family legacy, according to a family source, McCullough II would have flipped to USC on that trip.
Unfortunately for USC, they ended up missing on Roland and McCullough II was no longer an option. The Trojans did land the signature of Bradenton (Fla.) three-star safety Briton Allen, but at this point, USC just needs bodies in the defensive backfield. The miscalculation didn’t go over well with McCullough II, whose father is now coaching for the Kansas City Chiefs. The hope moving forward, at the very least, is that Greg Burns will provide some accountability at the defensive back position.
More IMG poaching?
USC will have a commit on IMG’s roster next season in 2021 linebacker Ma’a Gaoteote, younger brother of current Trojan Palaie, who announced the move on Thursday. There was also a big rumor that popped up earlier in the week that five-star CB Elias Ricks and four-star CB Oklahoma commit Darion Green-Warren – both who will be on USC’s radar next season – were transferring from Mater Dei to IMG. A source from Mater Dei shot down the rumors as false.
Missing Christmas present
A week ago, we got a call from a good source in Las Vegas. This source was pretty convinced that former USC safety Bubba Bolden was all set to return to the Trojan football team, providing a lot of details on the process and what changed that would allow him to come back. What we were told made some sense so we posted the “Ho Ho Ho” thread on the Peristyle just to give everyone a heads up.
Then we started checking around with other sources and no one we talked to could back up what our Vegas source was saying. The only signs that supported this was Bubba Bolden posting a USC photo of him on his Instagram feed with the caption “I miss this…” and one source saying they had heard something about his potential return.
As the week progressed, we started to get more definitive answers refuting what our Vegas source said. One USC team source who is close with the defensive backs group had not heard anything about Bolden returning and didn’t think it would be a good look if something like that happened. Another good source at USC also told us that this simply wasn’t happening. We then talked to a source very close to Bolden himself and they told us that not only it was not true, but Bolden is actually verbally committed elsewhere. They also shared that Bolden’s suspension runs until December 2020.
We are still not sure where Bolden ends up, but one source told us that Miami was the front-runner.
We also heard something interesting about someone involved with the enforcement of Bolden’s case. Dr. Ainsley Carry, Vice President of Student Affairs, resigned in early December. He will be taking a position at the University of British Columbia starting in April 2019. Carry was accused of trying to broker a hush money deal for former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall according to an LA Times report, an accusation that Carry denied.
La-Mel-Oh or La-Mel-No?
LaMelo Ball, a former UCLA commit and the younger brother of Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball, caused a small stir this week when he posted on his social media that he was stopping by USC.
LaMelo is back in the United States after a short stint playing professionally in Lithuania. He is enrolled at the Spire Institute in Ohio, where he is currently playing high school basketball once again. The school’s associated academy director said that LaMelo was not compensated and never received payment for playing overseas. That’s what the Ball family continues to say and why they believe LaMelo should be able to play collegiately in the NCAA.
As of now, it doesn’t appear that USC is necessarily looking at LaMelo as an option in the 2019 class. The Trojans don’t currently have a spot, though it’s possible one could open up due to a transfer or an NBA draft early entrant, but more importantly, the hoops staff wasn’t around for Ball’s visit earlier this week. Ball posted last month that he was in Lexington, Kentucky, so USC may not be the only school that he has stopped by recently.
Bandaged ballers
While LaMelo isn’t the answer right now, the basketball team could definitely use an extra body. The Trojans are expected to have Elijah Weaver back for this Sunday’s game against UC Davis after he sat the last game when his ankle swelled up on him overnight. Unfortunately, they won’t be getting back any other injured players.
Kevin Porter Jr.’s injured thigh has continued to bother him and as of now, he’s not expected to be available for USC’s final non-conference game of the year. Sunday will be a full month and 10 days since Porter initially was injured in the Missouri State game. New Year’s Day next Tuesday will be a full six weeks since Porter was kneed in the thigh.
Getting Porter back would be a huge boost. Getting everyone healthy and available would be even bigger. But that’s not expected to happen. The most recent discussion is that the Trojans will not have a full roster all season.
Say it ain’t so . . . Song Girls
Still hearing from people frosted about AD Lynn Swann sidelining the Song Girls from appearing at basketball games with no reasons that make much sense given. Did the Dance Force really win an internal political battle with USC’s legendary dance group? One long-time booster not happy with the Song Girls decision approached Swann before the Southern Utah game last week and wanted to know what’s up with “banning” the Song Girls.
He says Swann responded by saying he hadn’t “banned” them. So would he allow them to perform again at basketball games, he was asked. He said “No,” he wouldn’t. His questioner said he personally could not discern the distinction between “banning” and “not allowing them to perform.”
As the discussion continued, Swann said he was unhappy with “senior Song Girl leadership,” that the girls did not position themselves properly – at least several hadn’t – during player introductions and finally, that being on the North baseline interfered with marketing efforts although it was noted that Dance Force members positioned themselves in the same spot. As to the Song Girls returning next year to Galen, Swann said he could not commit to that.
So there you have it. If USC can’t figure out how to have a place for the Song Girls at basketball games, is there anything this Athletic Department can get right? Especially thinking about all the really difficult things USC has to figure out right now like making the football and basketball programs competitive?
How long has it been?
Got a text from a USC fan the other day wondering how long it’s been since the Pac-12 has won a bowl game. Well, Pac-12 pundit Jon Wilner has the answer: 367 days to be exact, with Utah’s win over West Virginia in the Heart of Texas Bowl the lone win for the Pac-12 in its last 11 games. To put that number into perspective, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has earned a cool $4,826,500 since the Pac-12 last won a bowl game. When you’re earning $13,150 a day, that money just piles up so darn fast even if the wins do not.
Not to worry, you know, about all that money and stuff, Oregon AD Rob Mullens, chair of the College Football Playoffs selection committee, seems to be saying. Sure, the SEC, with a commissioner making mere $5,205 a day running a league that took in $140 million more -- in mostly media dollars -- than the Pac-12’s “media company” did. “That’s a different model,” Mullens told Wilner of the SEC’s cooperative deal with ESPN and lucrative deal with CBS compared to the Pac-12’s wholly self-owned network. “I think it’s still up in the air as to whether that turns out to be the right move. If the media landscape shifts and it goes our way, we could be sitting in a great position. But that is to be determined.”
So yeah, after seven years now, the most powerful AD in the league has no idea if the Pac-12’s 12-year plan will work although, in five more years, the Pac-12 would be down a cool $840 million to the SEC and even more to the Big Ten. But not to fear. While the SEC has been paying a mere $870 a day for rent of its Birmingham offices over the last 367 days while the Big Ten was shelling out $4,109 a day for its suburban Chicago offices, the Pac-12 showed them all up, paying a cool $18,801 a day for rent in San Francisco since its last bowl win.
Which makes sense, as some have noted. The Pac-12 isn’t a sports league, it’s a “media company.” No one expects “media companies” to win football games. Or skimp on their offices.
How about those Pac-12 officials?
With no College Football Playoff games on their postseason dance card, Pac-12 officiating crews were originally assigned to five postseason games. It’s down to four now after that was a Pac-12 crew presiding over the canceled-because-of-lightning First Responders Bowl in Dallas the other day. Not sure if the fact that it was a Pac-12 crew factored into the decision to bail on the game but you always have to ask. The other four games? Camping World, Tax Slayer, Outback and the Georgia-Texas Sugar Bowl game.
Slipping through the NCAA’s new ‘Net’
It’s become the new talking point when NCAA basketball bids are starting to be projected. The Pac-12 may get just one. That’s right, one. If you look at the NCAA’s new NET rankings system, it’s hard to see more than one. The only Pac-12 team in the Top 50 is No. 31 Arizona State, who at least has a win over last week’s No. 1 Kansas – last week. So we’d say the Sun Devils are probably under-ranked here. But no such argument can be made about anyone else. Washington is next at No. 56.
UCLA at No. 61 and Arizona at No. 63 seem too high, to be honest. Then come Colorado at No. 76 with the two Oregons – Oregon State at 86 and Oregon at 94. Stanford is No. 106 and 20 spots below is USC at No. 126. The only good news there is they won’t have to have a draw party at Galen Center – or the disappointment of being the highest-ranked team snubbed. USC will either win the Pac-12 tournament and be in or . . . or nothing. There is no “or” for these Trojans. They have one way in after having lost every single nonconference game that could elevate their status.
So how low is No. 126? Is it like not making the 78 teams in the 39 bowl games in football? Well, here’s one way to look at it. At No. 126, USC is below the likes of three Nashville schools starting with Lipscomb (32), Belmont (40) and a No. 42 Vandy team that already beat the Trojans. USC is also behind North Texas (41), Furman (48), Murray State (49) and Ivy League Penn (51). But the embarrassment doesn’t end there. There are Wofford (62) and Liberty (64). And Toledo (65) and College of Charleston (67). And San Diego (79) and Radford (82).
Don’t forget Yale (87), UC Irvine (96) and Samford (97). Or Louisiana Tech, Ball State, Drake and Hofstra, Nos. 98 through 101. Or Davidson (104), East Tennessee (105) and Austin Peay (109). Man, how we’d like to see the Governors back in this so we could relive the days of the legendary “Fly” Williams and those wonderful “Let’s go Peay” cheers. The “y” is silent.
Then there are basketball powers like The Citadel (111), Loyola Marymount (116), Montana (117), Harvard (118) and Vermont (120), all ahead of USC. And sure, like much of what the NCAA does, these rankings look a little shaky. But there they are. And there USC is, behind at least 27 teams who have no business being in the same sentence with this Trojans program.