Future Shaping Up for USC, UCLA

On a day that can determine the futures of college football programs, coaches Paul Hackett of USC and Bob Toledo of UCLA expressed optimism Wednesday with their recruiting classes on the first day of the national signing period.

It takes months--and sometimes years--before coaches can gauge new recruits, but Hackett said Wednesday he was “thrilled” with the Trojans’ 20 incoming players.

“I’m just bubbling over,” he said.

Hackett came away with a top-10 recruiting class, headed by the No. 1 prep player in Southern California, safety Matt Grootegoed of Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Grootegoed, The Times’ Glenn Davis Award winner, wavered between USC and UCLA before choosing the Trojans last week. He made 138 tackles and intercepted six passes last season and helped the Monarchs win or share three Southern Section Division I championships.

“He’s the ideal ballplayer,” Hackett said. “He does everything. This was a guy we had to get.”

USC came on strong in the final weeks of recruiting and completed its late surge with the signing of receiver Keary Colbert of Hueneme. Colbert is one of the state’s fastest receivers and complements the trio of swift receivers the Trojans signed last year--Kareem Kelly, Marcell Allmond and Steve Stevenson.

Hackett was pleased that his coaching staff won recruiting battles in recent weeks despite losing four assistants who either resigned or were fired.

“I think we have won some early [commitments] in the past, but this year we knew in order to take another step we had to go head to head with Michigan, Florida State and UCLA and come out on top,” he said. “Our coaches finished great at the end.”

USC’s training table, where players line up for buffet-style meals, will need to expand after the signing of eight offensive and defensive linemen. It fulfills a promise Hackett made when he was hired two years ago to strengthen the team’s lines.

Offensive lineman Joe McGuire, a6-foot-5, 280-pounder from Anaheim Servite, is a Parade magazine All-American. USC also acquired two top defensive linemen in Nathan Goodson (6-5, 270) of Temescal Canyon and Kenechi Udeze (6-3, 320) of Verbum Dei.

Tight end Alex Holmes (6-2, 295) of Harvard-Westlake improves USC’s depth at that position. “The guy has a chance to change the face of the tight end position here,” Hackett said.

One player who could start immediately is cornerback Chris Cash of Palomar College. He’s one of the Trojans’ five junior college recruits and is already enrolled at USC. “Chris Cash was the outstanding [junior college] cornerback in the country,” Hackett said.

Toledo’s focus was on filling specific needs. The Bruins had 18 scholarships and ended up signing 14 players.

None of the recruits is more important than free safety Ben Emanuel of Friends-wood, Texas. Emanuel (6-3, 185), who has 4.5-second speed over 40 yards, gives the Bruins hope of restoring their tradition of outstanding safeties established by Eric Turner and Kenny Easley.

Among the other prominent Bruin recruits:

* Fullback Patrick Norton of Newhall Hart was The Times’ San Fernando Valley player of the year. He’s 6-1, has grown to 280 pounds and is known for his fierce blocking.

* Punter Chris Kluwe of Los Alamitos averaged 45.5 yards per punt, made a 60-yard field goal and scored 1490 on his Scholastic Assessment Test. “I saw him punting from one end to the other and thought he was Ray Guy,” Toledo said.

* Linebacker Brandon Chillar of Carlsbad made 12 sacks and was considered the top defensive player in San Diego County.

* Offensive lineman Paul Mociler (6-5, 300) was a Parade magazine All-American.

* Receiver Tab Perry of Milpitas was ranked the No. 1 receiver in the West by one publication. He averaged 30.5 yards on kickoff returns.

* Running back Manuel White of Valencia rushed for 6,745 yards in his career, fourth best in California history.

“We wanted to really target a certain number of people and go after them,” Toledo said. “I easily could have signed 18 in a heartbeat. We went after some top guys and felt we got 14 outstanding players. We lost some people at the end, but I’m very pleased with what we got.”

Toledo said the Bruins may hold two scholarships until next year because there will be only 12 to offer.

He also announced that defensive back Marques Anderson, suspended from the team last year, has returned to school, and linebacker Ed Stansbury will be moved to fullback.

Two trends have emerged in college football recruiting--high school players are committing earlier and some are graduating in January so they can participate in spring football.

All of UCLA’s 14 recruits committed before Jan. 1 and some as early as last February. UCLA has already received commitments for 2001 from two of the state’s top juniors--defensive back Matthew Ware of Loyola and offensive lineman Robert Cleary of Temescal Canyon.

Two examples of players graduating early are quarterbacks Casey Clausen of Mission Hills Alemany and Brandon Hance of Woodland Hills Taft. They graduated last month and are enrolled at Tennessee and Purdue, respectively. Both wanted to get a jump on their college careers by competing in spring practice.

One top player who waited until Wednesday to choose a college was All-American defensive end Travis Johnson of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. He signed with Florida State.

“I haven’t slept in 48 hours and haven’t eaten in a day and a half,” Johnson said.

Johnson had 44 sacks in three years at Notre Dame.

Wendell Hunter of Carson, the City Section player of the year, signed with California.

Hunter, a 6-1, 220-pound linebacker, led the Colts to the City Section title with a victory over Crenshaw.

Hunter was one of seven Carson players to sign letters of intent, joining wide receiver James Michael Smith (Arizona State), linebackers Michael Crowder Jones and Ashley Subingsubing (Nevada Las Vegas), defensive lineman Fai Satele (Fresno State) and defensive backs Ronnie Rebers and Alex Lewis (Portland State).

Westchester defensive back Sam Cunningham was one of 10 Southland high school players who signed with Oregon. Others headed to Eugene: wide receiver Keith Allen of West Torrance; running backs Josh Herrera of La Habra, Mario McDowell of Rialto Eisenhower and Kenny Washington of Brea Olinda; quarterbacks Chris Lombardo of Newbury Park and Scott Vossmeyer of Crescenta Valley; defensive backs Steve Smith of Gardena Serra and Marley Tucker of Long Beach Poly; and offensive lineman Adam Snyder of Whittier La Serna.

*

Staff writer Gary Klein contributed to this story.

* SIGNING LIST, PAGE 9

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Football Signings

SIGNED WITH USC

*--*

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. School Carlos Acosta OL 6-3 270 Moorpark CC Doyal Butler TE 6-3 245 Mesa (Ariz.) CC Chris Cash DB 5-11 170 Palomar CC Matt Cassel QB 6-5 215 Chatsworth Keary Colbert WR 6-1 185 Hueneme John Cousins LB 6-2 200 West L.A. CC Phillip Eaves OL 6-6 315 Riverside CC Nathan Goodson DL 6-5 270 Temescal Canyon Matt Grootegoed DB 5-11 205 Mater Dei Gregg Guenther TE 6-8 265 Taft Alex Holmes TE 6-2 295 Harvard-Westlake Chris Howard RB 5-11 180 Wilmington Banning Blair Jones OL 6-7 265 Newport Harbor Jason Leach DB 5-11 200 Bishop Amat Joe McGuire OL 6-5 280 Servite A.J. Single DL 6-3 255 Bonita Vista Kenechi Udeze DL 6-3 320 Verbum Dei Travis Watkins OL 6-3 295 La Mesa Helix Lee Webb FB 5-11 240 Crenshaw Jamaal Williams DL 6-4 260 San Diego St. Augustine

*--*

SIGNED WITH UCLA

*--*

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. School Craig Bragg WR 6-1 185 San Jose Bellarmine Ray Cassaday LB 6-1 220 Valencia Brandon Chillar LB 6-3 227 Carlsbad Eyoseph Efseaff OL 6-3 282 Porterville Monache Ben Emanuel DB 6-3 185 Friendswood (Texas) Clear Brook Chris Kluwe P 6-4 204 Los Alamitos Paul Mociler OL 6-5 300 St. John Bosco Patrick Norton FB 6-1 280 Hart Tab Perry WR 6-3 218 Milpitas John Ream OL 6-4 288 Las Vegas Chaparral Keith Short DB 5-9 162 Irvine Steve Vieira OL 6-6 279 Carlsbad Tim Warfield LB 6-2 235 Vista Manuel White RB 6-2 229 Valencia

*--*