recruiting story

Football players sign the first week in February sometime.

I read the same story. As a Trojan Fan & married to an alum, this is disappointing! Waiting to hear SC's side of the story. Does not say much about Kiffin, who is already in the doghouse with fans.

Kiffin is a joke.

Agree! Pat Haden needs to clean house. Basketball done, Baseball Frank Cruz?...Kiffin should be next.

If the kid signed in the fall I would say he's screwed. After Jim Mora, Kiffen is the best thing that has happened to UCLA football in years. I think Mora can out recruit Kiffen on professionalism alone. The decision becomes do you want to play for a clown or a professional coach who knows the NFL well.

Football has only one signing period for high school students, which this year is Feb 6 through April 1. Unlike baseball and many other sports, there is no early signing period. In fact, if a baseball player also hopes to play football, he must not sign an NLI in November.

I was curious if the kid had signed his letter of intent last....did not say in the article...only that he had committed, graduated and was ready to enroll now

No, the SC football recruit hasn't signed an LOI. The issue is the kid did the extra work to graduate high school early with designs on enrolling for the start of classes in January, both getting a jump on classes and more importantly being on campus for spring football practice. Apparently SC had x number of spots for early enrollees and at the last minute gave this kid's spot to another recruit. That's not cool and serves as just another strike against Kiffin. Having said that, probably not wise to portray Jim Mora or any other big-time coach in too saintly a fashion.

He can't have signed a NLI yet-- it isn't allowed in football until Feb 6 of his senior year.

How can an athlete get athletic money for a semester that starts in January if the signing day is in February? Imagine if the kid had paid to register for classes with the assumption he would be reimbursed in February?

RJM, others may have a lot more information than me, but I believe they are counted in the previous recruiting classes numbers......may be way off, but believe I've seen that explanation.

the bottom line here is that all too many hs athletes dont do enuff research before committing

Correct, he would have been counted against the previous signing class. That's purpose getting EE in football. You can count kids who enroll in January against the previous class. So if number sar esuch that you're down 5-6 scholarships because of kids leaving program, going pro early etc, you can fill those spots in January and still sign a full class of 25 or whatever in February that counts against the incoming class and thus bring in 30-31 kids.

I think Fitts did his homework. How would anyone believe even Lane Kiffen was as jerky as this. He commits in April of 2012, graduates early so that he can use one of 5 spots he was told even as late as Jan 5, 2013 that he would have-- and then someone comes along better for Kiffen and he defers the scholarship. My thinking is that this young man will be fine. He will be at a top school, and whatevr school it is, they will beat UCLA for the next four to five years-- or as long as Kiffen is there. I absolutely believe in commitments, but if this story is correct, USC certainly treated him like a piece of dirt and in my eyes he owes them nothing. Of course, that's just me.

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The development? Fitts was suddenly told there was no more room for him to enroll early. Evidently he was victim of a numbers game.
The Trojans have five openings for early enrollees, among them Vista Murrieta linebacker Su’a Cravens (and Vista coach Coley Candaele said Wednesday that as far as he knew, Cravens was still destined to begin classes at USC Monday).
Sammamish, Wash. quarterback Max Browne, Stockton running back Justin Davis and Rancho Cucamonga cornerback Chris Hawkins were also ticketed for the spring semester. Leon McQuay III, a five-star safety from Tampa, Fla., committed to USC Jan. 4 at the Under Armour All-Star Game, and the supposition is that when McQuay committed he received that fifth early enrollment slot, leaving Fitts the odd man out.
“Something happened recently that questioned my trust in USC,” Fitts told Blair Angulo of WeAreSC.com.
Welcome to College Football Inc., son.
Whether Fitts winds up at USC — he hasn’t totally dropped them from his list, he told WeAreSC.com, but wanted “to take a step back” — or heads elsewhere, he must realize now that college football is a business and he is a commodity. You’re a four-star and the other guy’s a five-star? That’s football, but please don’t hold it against us.
It might be too late for that. Word has already spread. (In fact, Fitts told Scout.com that he received phone calls from Washington and UCLA just minutes after tweeting his breakup with USC.)
Now, Fitts will have until Feb. 6, National Signing Day, to make a decision. USC, UCLA, Oregon, Alabama and Notre Dame are in the mix.
This time, he has said, he’ll make the decision with his head rather than his heart. As he should.
After all, it’s a business.
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1. COLUMN: Is Fitts' decommit a sign of trouble for USC program? : Jim ...
blog.pe.com/jim-alexander/.../fitts-signs-of-trouble-for-usc-program/

excuse me-- they will beat USC for the next 4 years

quote:

Baseball Frank Cruz?...

Will be an interesting season for the Trojans.

KIffen wouldn't do anything sleazy like this, would he ...

Others have speculated that USC coaches, mindful that Fitts was coming back from a season-ending wrist injury, bumped him in favor of Leon McQuay III, a safety from Seffner, Fla., who committed two weeks ago and enrolled early.

full story

Three weeks before high school players can sign national letters of intent, the Trojans are losing recruits and falling in a different set of rankings. In August, several websites ranked USC's 2013 recruiting class as the nation's best. Others had it among the top five. But that was before five high school players who had made oral commitments reconsidered.

quote:

Originally posted by bacdorslider:
Kiffin is a joke.

That's about the nicest thing I've seen written about Kiffin in a long time....lol

USC becomes an even bigger joke with reports of “flat-out brawl” in locker room after Sun Bowl

story