RECRUITING / JEFF FELLENZER : Stanford, Cal Pack a One-Two Punch in Pac-10 Recruiting

Now that college football’s “second season,” recruiting, is unofficially over, coaches are spending these days analyzing their final returns and calculating frequent-flier miles after another winter of crisscrossing the country in search of players.

At the same time, critics are compiling their annual top 10 lists. As with the weekly wire-service ratings for college football and basketball, recruiting lists can be fun and can make for some spirited debate among fans. But actual numbered rankings have never made much sense. How can anyone differentiate, say, between, the No. 4-ranked college football recruiting class in one poll and the No. 7 group in another?

As college coaches are quick to point out--in an attempt to diffuse expectations of sometimes over-hyped fans and media--recruiting classes can only be judged by what happens on the football field three or four years later.

Although that may be true, teams need to win their share of recruiting battles to consistently contend for conference championships and bowl bids.

High school football players may be the most difficult athletes to evaluate. Because football is such a physical sport, it’s hard to judge what two or three years of solid work in the weight room might do to a 17-year-old lineman. The NCAA is making this task more difficult by reducing scholarship numbers and placing more restrictions on the amount of time coaches can spend evaluating players. As a result, expect to find more players turn out to be college standouts who may not have had the most impressive list of recruiting visits.

That aside, which schools are rated to have had the most recruiting success this year?

In the Pacific 10 Conference, California and Stanford are in a class by themselves.

Stanford has received most of the national plaudits, thanks mostly to the ability of Coach Bill Walsh to fill his program’s most critical needs by attracting outstanding skill-position talent: All-America quarterbacks Scott Frost (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) of Wood River, Neb., and Tim Carey (6-4, 180) of Los Alamitos, running backs Mike Mitchell (6-0, 210) of Phoenix and Eliel Swinton (5-11, 190) of Van Nuys Montclair Prep, and wide receivers Leroy Pruitt (5-9, 170) of Blue Springs, Mo., Brian Manning (5-11, 170) of Kansas City, Charles Young (5-11, 180) of Seattle and Alistair White (6-0, 175) of Glendale, Ariz.

However, the only lineman Stanford signed was Anaheim Esperanza defensive tackle Bryan Werner (6-5, 240), though offensive lineman Steve Frost (6-2, 260), Scott’s older brother, is on the school’s list of recruits as a transfer from Colorado State. He’ll have to redshirt next season. And with no defensive backs listed in this class, it seems likely that at least a couple of the running backs-wide receivers will wind up on the other side of the ball.

After finishing 4-7 in his first season as Cal coach, Keith Gilbertson put together a balanced class highlighted by quarterback Pat Barnes (6-3, 205) of Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills, defensive end Regan Upshaw (6-4, 220) of Pittsburg, Calif., safety Marlin McWilson (6-1, 200) of San Diego, two-way lineman Tarik Glenn (6-3, 280) of Oakland, community college defensive backs Rich Richardson (5-11, 185) of Laney and Darrell Miles (6-2, 210) of Contra Costa and running backs Tarik Smith (5-11, 185) of Agoura Oak Park and Khalid Shabazz (5-8, 175) of Oakland.

Not surprisingly, the effects of April’s riots appear to have affected recruiting for UCLA and USC. Besides the riots, a USC freshman football player was wounded by a bullet on the school’s practice field. Whether justified or not, the perception of a troubled city became a public relations nightmare for football coaches from UCLA and USC.

Hence, a school such as California, which is only an hour from the Southland by plane, made major inroads in Los Angeles.

UCLA, which normally has a strong national recruiting presence, signed only two out-of-state players, both from Texas: kicker Jason Lesley (5-7, 150) of Palacios and running back Bryan (Skip) Hicks (6-1, 210) of Burkburnett. A year earlier, the Bruins brought in players from Maryland (linebacker Brent Guyton), Minnesota (defensive lineman Jamal Clark), the District of Columbia (tackle Jonathan Ogden), Virginia (kicker Bjorn Merten), Washington (quarterback Scott Fitterer) and Arizona (running back T Ford). UCLA’s starting defensive backfield last season consisted of cornerbacks Carl Greenwood (Texas) and Carlton Gray (Ohio), and safeties Othello Henderson (Texas) and Marvin Goodwin (New Jersey).

USC, which was starting to develop its own presence in Texas in recent years with such players as inside linebacker Brian Williams, wide receiver Joel Scott, quarterback Reggie Perry, nose guard Thomas Holland and offensive lineman David Apolskis, signed only two players from outside California. Both of the players were from Arizona: defensive back Junior Rickman (6-3, 200) of Tucson and running back LaVale Woods (5-7, 190) of Mesa.

The parents of one of UCLA’s top prospects, Tyler, Tex., wide receiver Cikai Champion, who had narrowed his choices to Notre Dame and UCLA, simply believed their son would be safer in South Bend, Ind.

“My only concern about UCLA was the size of Los Angeles,” Champion said.

Still, the Bruins put together a good class that should rank a notch below Stanford and Cal. Included among the 17 signees is the Pac-10’s best group of linemen, led by All-America defensive tackle Travis Kirschke (6-4 1/2, 250) of Anaheim Esperanza and tackles Andy Meyers (6-6, 280) of Fontana and Sean Gully (6-5, 245) of Irvine, and linebackers Brian Willmer (6-3, 220) of Fullerton Sunny Hills and Tyrone Pierce (6-3, 220) of Sylmar. Another player to watch is cornerback Andy Colbert (5-9, 165) of Pasadena Muir, a converted quarterback with outstanding skills.

However, Hicks was the only skill-position player UCLA signed. Among the running backs who went elsewhere were Smith (Cal) and Mitchell and Swinton (Stanford). The only quarterback the Bruins offered a scholarship to was Matt Hasselbeck of Westwood, Mass., who chose Boston College. Another loss that hurt was outside linebacker Brian Batson, who gave UCLA an unwritten commitment on his visit before changing his mind and signing with Stanford.

USC was facing an almost impossible task, and the results showed. Coach John Robinson and his staff had only a month to build relationships with recruits, most of whom had been recruited by other schools since the summer. The Trojans were able to get two-way lineman Chris Brymer (6-3, 285) of Apple Valley, who had earlier given an unwritten commitment to Washington, and safety Sammy Knight (6-1, 195) of Riverside. In addition, USC signed standout running back Saladin McCullough (5-9, 175) of Pasadena Muir and defensive back Jesse Davis (6-0, 190) of Jefferson High and Mt. San Antonio College.

But the big one that got away was Fontana’s Meyers, who switched from USC to UCLA after the coaching change. Another player who reneged on an unwritten commitment was safety Denard Walker of Garland, Tex., who signed with Louisiana State. More significantly, given their successes of past years, the Trojans were unable to sign any players from Los Angeles City schools, including Dorsey wide receiver Antonio Carrion (San Diego State), Crenshaw wide receivers Kofi Nartey (Cal) and Eric Scott (Northwestern), Fairfax linebacker Andre Rhodes (Cal) and Manual Arts fullback-linebacker Dion Laffitte (Fresno State).

Nationally, besides Stanford and Cal, the schools that appear to have the best recruiting classes were, in no particular order: Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida State, Miami, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and Syracuse.

Notes

UCLA, which has signed 17 players, is hoping to add one of the best prospects in Southern California to its class--Rialto Eisenhower defensive lineman Germaine Gray (6-5, 255). Gray, who received nine of a possible 10 votes in the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s annual “Best in the West” poll of West Coast college football coaches, had given an unwritten commitment to his longtime favorite school, Florida State, after a visit last month. He had a change of heart about going to the East Coast, however, partly because his father, Willie, was recently found to have cancer. Gray, an outstanding student with a 3.5 grade-point average, underwent surgery Jan. 29 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Rehabilitation is expected to take nine months to a year. Thus, wherever Gray goes, he will redshirt his freshman season. Having used up his five official visits (Florida State, Washington State, Arizona State, Cal and USC), Gray took an unofficial trip to UCLA with his father on Thursday. He is also considering Arizona State, USC and Florida State. The Bruins are also keeping a scholarship open for defensive lineman Tyron Gunn (6-4, 235) of Washington High. Gunn, who took official trips to UCLA, Arizona, Fresno State, Oklahoma and Hawaii, is unsigned while awaiting results from his Scholastic Aptitude Test.

USC got some good news late last week when the signatures of Pasadena High stars Phalen Pounds (6-7, 290), an offensive tackle and nephew of former Washington basketball player Larry Pounds, and Treyvonne Towns (6-2, 200), an outside linebacker, finally arrived in the mail. The two signings give the Trojans a total of 14 recruits. Signing Gray would complete the class and give USC a much-needed defensive lineman.

Stanford’s impressive class sustained one defection when running back Rob Morris (6-2, 220) of Nampa, Ida., who had given the Cardinal an unwritten commitment, changed his mind and signed with Brigham Young.

One of the most impressive coups of the recruiting season goes to Notre Dame for signing the player regarded by most coaches and talent evaluators as the No. 1 linebacker prospect in the country, Melvin Dansby (6-4, 240) of Birmingham, Ala. The Irish recruited Dansby from national champion Alabama, which had the nation’s top-rated defense and has produced such NFL linebacking standouts as Cornelius Bennett (Buffalo) and Derrick Thomas (Kansas City). Dansby, an honors student, was reportedly put off by Alabama’s pressure on him to stay in-state. Interestingly, his only official trips were to Tennessee, Louisiana State and Notre Dame. He was believed to have been leaning to Tennessee until his visit there, which occurred during the weekend of a shooting incident that involved a freshman football player.