USC Recruiting Class Still Has Work to Do : College football: Eleven of 30 players signed in February have yet to qualify for admission.

Four months before the season opener against Washington, uncertainties about USC’s football recruiting class remain.

That’s because Coach John Robinson is not sure how many of the 30 high school and junior college players he signed to scholarships in February will arrive in August. Eleven, including two highly regarded prep running backs, have yet to qualify for admission.

Although many recruiting experts have ranked this class among the five most talented in the nation, the praise is premature.

Five of the 20 high school seniors are still waiting for either qualifying scores on college entrance exams or a C average in core curriculum, and six of the 10 junior college players must complete work for Associate of Arts degrees before being eligible.

Robinson is confident most will make it.

“Our staff evaluated the talent out there and felt these risks were worth it,” Robinson said. “We know we won’t get them all in, but that’s a gamble I’m more than comfortable taking. We wanted the best players possible.”

To be eligible under NCAA guidelines, high school recruits must maintain a 2.0 grade-point average in core classes and score at least 17 points on the American College Test or 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Junior college players who weren’t eligible coming out of high school must have completed 48 credit hours and earned a degree if transferring after two seasons.

Because of the academic questions concerning so many recruits, some have suggested that USC has lowered its admission standards for athletes, a suggestion school officials deny. Still, Robinson acknowledges, he might have more latitude in recruiting players who are considered academic risks than his predecessor, Larry Smith.

In his six seasons at USC, Smith said he followed strict guidelines in recruiting.

A week before he was fired in December of 1992, Smith said he told school officials that something had to be done: either lower entry requirements or lower expectations on the field.

“Something had to give because the situation was getting impossible,” said Smith, now the coach at Missouri.

Smith said that when he was hired, Mike McGee, the former athletic director, told him improving the graduation rate among football players was a top priority. Smith said he was told to recruit a certain number of his players at the high end of academic standing, a certain number in the middle and a certain number at the low end.

From 1987-92, Smith had few academic casualties. Only five players he signed did not qualify, and one of them, Curtis Conway, made it in a year after retaking the SAT.

Smith signed 11 junior college players, never more than three in one year.

“Our administration considered junior college players risky and a back-door option,” Smith said. “Also, after my first year, we could only sign JC players who were not physical education majors, since we eliminated that study. That made it tough, since that was a common major.”

McGee, now the athletic director at South Carolina, said he tried to raise standards at USC so athletics would not overload academic support services.

“I wanted to limit athletes who were academic risks,” said McGee, who left USC in January of 1993. “I think our graduation rate improved every year.”

McGee was replaced by Mike Garrett, a former running back and Heisman Trophy winner at USC. As USC’s associate athletic director, Garrett helped hire Robinson, who had previously coached the Trojans from 1976-82.

Robinson had only one month to recruit after getting the job and signed only 15 players. But two, running back Saladin McCullough of Pasadena Muir and linebacker Treyvone Towns of Pasadena, did not qualify.

McCullough’s case has been particularly embarrassing and frustrating for USC. After reportedly failing to score at least 700 on the PSAT, a preliminary test for high school juniors, McCullough nearly doubled his score on the SAT. But testing officials examined the result after someone tipped them to the discrepancy, and after a drawn-out investigation, nullified the result.

McCullough has not played football or attended classes since high school.

Although McCullough probably would have played last season, the setback did not deter Robinson from going after more potential academic risks. Garrett has supported his coach’s recruiting.

“We were just more aggressive in our approach to recruiting,” Garrett said. “The bottom line is, more kids are attracted to USC because of John Robinson. The quality of players we signed is stunning and a tribute to the great job the coaches did of selling USC.”

The 10 junior college players signed by Robinson were the most in the Pacific 10 Conference. Garrett said USC has above average JC admission policies in the conference by not accepting Ds and requiring 75% of coursework to be academic in nature.

After an 8-5 season, Robinson said he recruited junior college players heavily because of the many immediate needs to be filled.

“We’re at a deficit position as far as talent goes, and JC players can step right in,” Robinson said. “This is something our staff knew we’d need to do when we took over, so we identified several players to go after and began making sure they were taking the right courses.

“We just did our job. But nobody is getting in who doesn’t qualify.”

Robinson also recruited some of the country’s most talented high school players. Kicker Adam Abrams of La Jolla Bishop’s, defensive lineman Darrell Russell of San Diego St. Augustine and running back Rodney Sermons of La Puente Bishop Amat were among the most recruited at their positions.

But a quarter of those who signed have not qualified. They include defensive backs Ken Haslip of Pasadena Muir and Prentice Hill of Dallas Carter, defensive lineman George Perry of San Bernardino and running backs Marlin Carey of San Diego Mt. Carmel and Delon Washington of Dallas Kimball.

Defensive lineman Antoine Simpson of La Porte, Tex., had not qualified when he signed his letter of intent, but recently passed the ACT.

Because colleges can no longer offer scholarships to athletes who do not meet NCAA eligibility requirements, Robinson realizes some slots will go unfilled.

“Nationally, this is something done all of the time,” he said. “It’s a question that we were willing to take the risks for the type of talent we’re talking about. Other schools are also doing it. I know we won’t get everybody in.”

Several of the recruits who have not qualified would probably play right away. Carey and Washington each rushed for more than 1,500 yards last season. Haslip is a quick defender who has the nation’s fastest times this season in the 110-high hurdles and 300 hurdles. And Perry, 6 feet 6 and 245 pounds, is one of the biggest and most versatile recruits, having played six positions in high school.

The players say USC coaches were aware of their academic troubles, but did not back off.

Washington, perhaps the top prospect, said he had not taken the ACT until last December and needed to do so in order to visit USC. He said he scored 16 and is awaiting the results of his second try.

“The coaches all told me that the minute I got a 17, I was in,” Washington said. “They told me if I didn’t get in, I could go to a junior college and try again next year.”

Hill, a Dallas recruit, said he was encouraged to commit to a junior college in case he did not make it at USC. He plans to attend Trinity Valley College outside of Dallas if he does not score at least 17 on the ACT.

Carey has already scored more than 700 on the SAT, but still needs to fulfill his core curriculum requirements. Perry and Haslip have retaken the SAT and are awaiting results.

USC officials said Thursday that they believe Haslip and Hill are close to qualifying and are awaiting their paperwork.

Although Robinson said his recruiting methods are common, they are different from UCLA’s Terry Donahue. Of 19 recruits, including two junior college transfers, the Bruins have signed only one player who has not yet qualified.

“All of the students we recruited this year could have come here under Larry Smith,” said Fred Stroock, USC’s administrator for academic services. “This staff attracted a lot of kids that might not have otherwise thought of USC in the past.”

But Stroock acknowledges that Robinson’s staff might have been given more latitude. Smith said he would never have been allowed to sign so many academic risks because McGee would have not given him the letters of intent.

“I would only have been allowed to sign one or two players who were still awaiting their test scores,” Smith said. “I didn’t even bother trying for more than that.”

Times staff writer Gregory Sandoval contributed to this story.