Big Day for USC, Not for UCLA

USC wrapped its arms around another bumper crop of football recruits Wednesday in an apparent attempt to bump UCLA completely out of the sports section.

OK, the situation is not that dire, although comparing UCLA’s solid recruiting class to USC’s cornucopia is like comparing Miss Pomona Fair to Heidi Klum.

USC’s Trojans may look back on these as their Caesar salad days while UCLA, fresh off a losing season and spate of exit interviews with departing players, finds itself desperately looking forward.

Make no mistake: the Bruins’ 2004 recruiting class is the envy of

“They’re still bringing in guys a lot of other schools wish they had,” Greg Biggins, the Southland-based director of recruiting for Student Sports, said.

One recruiting service ranked UCLA’s 2004 class as high as 19th nationally -- but that may not cut it in a town where expectations are skyscraper high and the next-door-neighbor rival just won the Rose Bowl, a share of the national title and this year’s recruiting lotto.

The Bruins signed 20 high school players to national letters of intent Wednesday, those recruits joining six junior college players already enrolled.

The Bruins secured an important “hold” when standout defensive end Brigham Harwell, who had wavered between UCLA and Arizona State, signed with the Bruins.

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said he was well aware of what was going on across town.

“They’re doing as good as anybody in the country right now,” he said of USC. “ ... but you can’t let that sidetrack what’s important within your own program ...”

The remarkable thing is not that USC has pulled away from UCLA -- it’s how far the Trojans have distanced themselves so fast.

Six games into the 2001 season, UCLA was 6-0 and ranked No. 4 in the nation after a 56-17 win over California. That same Saturday, Oct. 20, USC lost at Notre Dame and Coach Pete Carroll’s first-year record fell to 2-5.

Since, USC has gone 27-4 while UCLA is 15-16.

In the tenuous, win-now world of college football, players flock to the front-runners.

“It’s a bandwagon society,” David Norrie, former UCLA quarterback and current college football analyst for ABC, said this week.

These days, that wagon is hitched to a white horse.

There is no 15-yard penalty for piling on in recruiting, but that’s what USC is doing to UCLA.

Rivalry watchers have never seen anything quite like it.

“USC is on another level,” Biggins said. “Unlike in Florida, where Miami, Florida and Florida State are sharing the talent, there’s not talent being shared here. USC gets what it wants and UCLA gets what’s left over.”

Gary Bernardi, a 10-year UCLA assistant who was the Bruins’ tight ends coach and national recruiting coordinator before he was fired after last season, can only admire what USC has done.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Gawd, what’s wrong with UCLA,’ ” Bernardi said.

“Yeah, there are some problems. There have been some ups and downs. But [the Trojans] have done a wonderful job.”

UCLA dominated the 1990s, winning eight consecutive games against USC and, in 1998, secured what many believed was the nation’s top recruiting class.

Things changed in a Pete Carroll-minute. The Internet has moved information at warp speed and, well, news gets around.

A program can rise and fall on a coaching change, a bowl win, a reputation or a whisper.

High school players know the score and sense shifts in momentum.

“If you’re looking to stem the tide going in to the 2004 season, it’s not going to happen, period, it can’t happen,” Norrie said. “USC has too much momentum, too many great players.”

UCLA is scrambling to find traction as public perceptions harden.

The face of USC is that of a hard-charging Carroll, who has ignited USC with his energy, enthusiasm, attacking defense and wide-open offense.

The face of UCLA is Dorrell, his deadpan sideline demeanor seen by some as a metaphor for a young program that hasn’t found its footing.

“I don’t want to get down on Karl after one year,” Norrie said, “but I’ll tell you what, there are a lot of people who are down on him.”

There’s a sense key players are begging to get out of UCLA, not in.

Recently, quarterbacks Matt Moore, John Sciarra and tailback Tyler Ebell have sought work elsewhere.

Matt Ware, a marquee defensive back, elected to make himself available for the NFL draft.

“The perception of the whole program is that they’ve just been steadily declining for the last three or four years,” Biggins said. “Until they actually go win nine games and a bowl game, that’s going to be the perception.”

How did UCLA football get so far off message?

Blame it on a combination of ill-fated decisions, unforeseen circumstances, loss of recruiting momentum, lack of coaching-staff continuity and woefully inconsistent play at quarterback.

The situation is magnified because UCLA’s dip has coincided with USC’s meteoric rise.

UCLA, after winning eight in a row, has lost its last five against USC.

And a win in the USC-UCLA series buys more than bragging rights.

“In recruiting you need that wave,” Bernardi said, “where those kids start calling each other and saying, ‘We can do this together.’ ”

But it goes deeper than that.

Norrie blames UCLA’s slide on the school’s inability to produce a top flight quarterback since four-year starter Cade McNown left the program in 1998.

Norrie and Biggins also suggested Dorrell’s West Coast offense, which some believe is too complicated for young players, is driving recruits away.

Biggins said four highly touted prep quarterbacks cited the Bruin offense as a reason for committing to other schools.

Instead of getting blue-chip prospects, UCLA signed a junior college transfer, David Koral, who would compete with Drew Olson for the starting position.

Wednesday, the Bruins added Patrick Cowan, from Bellflower St. John Bosco High, who chose UCLA over Idaho and Sacramento State.

While USC has clearly pulled away from UCLA, several pivotal rivalry moments illustrate the precarious nature of this relationship:

* What if UCLA had beaten Miami in 1998 and gone on to win the national title?

Might that have been the adrenaline shot needed to keep UCLA on top and USC at bay?

* What if Paul Hackett had been marginally successful at USC and not been fired after three years?

Had Hackett lasted the length of his five-year contract, USC fans might not have known Pete Carroll from Lewis Carroll.

* What if Rick Neuheisel had not self-destructed in Washington and taken himself out contention for his dream job, UCLA, after Bob Toledo was fired?

Imagine the fiery Neuheisel as Bruin coach, going head-to-head against Carroll in recruiting.

* What if UCLA had not been jilted by hot-shot quarterback J.P. Losman, who transferred in 1999 without playing a down? Suppose the Bruins passed on Losman and instead lured Kyle Boller of California or Casey Clausen of Tennessee?

Or, suppose Losman, who turned out to be a pretty good quarterback at Tulane, had stayed in Westwood?

* What if UCLA, even last year, could have built on the momentum of a 6-2 start instead of losing its last five games?

Biggins said UCLA was in the hunt for several impact players, including running back Adrian Peterson (who committed to Oklahoma), receiver Xavier Carter (LSU) and offensive lineman Jeff Byers (USC).

“I can rip off 10 guys that are top national guys from outside California, outside the West, that they lost as a result of the season,” Biggins said.

“They were right there on a lot of guys.”

UCLA has a tremendous gap to close, as wide as any since the days of John McKay.

Can UCLA stop this USC dam break?

“I think it can,” said Bernardi who, before his tenure at UCLA, coached at USC. “But if USC keeps winning, and keeps continuity within its staff, then it makes it tough.”

Biggins, the recruiting analyst, said winning was the only antidote.

“It doesn’t take much,” he said.

“You can turn things around in a two-year period. And UCLA is an easy place to win at because there’s so much talent in Southern California.”

He said UCLA’s recruiting class this year may be misinterpreted only because USC’s class was so over-the-top dominant.

“It’s probably one of UCLA’s weakest classes in the last five, six, or seven years,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s still top five in the Pac-10 and top 30 nationally.”

The truth is, while USC keeps adding rooms to its power house, UCLA claims to be still laying foundation.

“We’re building our program,” Dorrell said. “We’re continuing to build and we’re going to be better than we were a year ago. It’s going to be a process, though, and that’s the one thing people may not understand as well....”

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National Signing Day

* UCLA signed 20 high school players -- 16 from California and four from Louisiana -- and six junior college players. Brigham Harwell, the Times’ high school player of the year from Hacienda Heights Los Altos, is among 13 players from the Southland on the Bruins’ list.

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Bruin, Trojan Recruits

UCLA

* Brian Abraham, OL 6-6, 260, Rancho Cucamonga High

* Brandon Breazell, ATH, 6-0, 170, Edison High, Fresno

* Patrick Cowan, QB, 6-4, 200, St. John Bosco High

* Marcus Everett, WR, 6-1, 190, Chaminade High

* Scott Glicksberg, OL, 6-4, 285, Leland High, San Jose

* Ryan Graves, WR, 6-1, 180, Venice High

* Brigham Harwell, DE, 6-1, 255, Los Altos High, Hacienda Heights

* Justin Hickman, DL, 6-2, 255, Glendale College, Ariz.

* Fred Holmes, LB, 6-1, 235, John Curtis Christian High, River Ridge, La.

* Chris Johnson, DT, 6-3, 270, John Curtis Christian High, River Ridge, La.

* Chris Joseph, OL, 6-4, 255, Valley Union High, Santa Ynez

* David Koral, QB, 6-2, 210, Santa Monica College

* Tony Lee, OL/TE, 6-4, 250, Serra High

* Ken Lombard, DL, 6-1, 275, St. John Bosco High

* Chris Markey, RB, 5-11, 195, Jesuit High, New Orleans

* Aaron Meyer, OL, 6-3, 285, John Curtis Christian High, River Ridge, La.

* Kyle Morgan, DE, 6-3, 263, Pearl River College, Miss.

* Dan Nelson, LB, 6-1, 240, Arizona Western College

* Michael Norris, DB, 5-11, 175, Skyline High, Oakland

* Aaron Perez, P, 6-2, 200, Charter Oak High

* Matt Raney, TE, 6-4, 245, Phoenix College

* Nathaniel Skaggs, OL, 6-4, 255, Rancho Bernardo High

* Shannon Tevaga, OL, 6-3, 295, La Mirada High

* Rodney Van, DB, 6-1, 185, Long Beach Poly High

* Byron Velega, CB, 5-10, 180, Long Beach Poly High

* Marc Villafuerte, OL, 6-3 1/2, 290 Santa Ana College