After two years of having nearly everything imaginable go right, USC's budding football dynasty hit its first significant speed bump Wednesday when star receiver Mike Williams entered the NFL Draft.
This is no small loss for the Trojans, as loaded as they may be.
Besides perhaps Pittsburgh's Larry Fitzgerald, Williams was the best receiver in college football over the past two seasons, which just happened to be USC's best pair of seasons in nearly 25 years. What are the chances Matt Leinart would have emerged as one of the nation's most productive quarterbacks as a first-year starter without the help of Williams and the vastly underrated Keary Colbert? For that matter, would Carson Palmer have won the 2002 Heisman Trophy had Williams not arrived as a freshman that season?
The good news for the Trojans is they've recruited better at wide receiver than any team the past two years. Rising sophomores Steve Smith and Whitney Lewis were among the top receiver prospects last year. Ditto Fred Davis (who enrolled in January and already is participating in team conditioning drills) and Dwayne Jarrett this year.
The bad news is, those guys have almost no experience. Williams and Colbert, a departing senior, accounted for 85.6 percent of the yards gained by USC receivers during its national championship season. Smith, however, did catch 17 balls for 319 yards, and Davis, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound specimen, is physically ready to play as a true freshman.
"Our team is well-prepared for his leaving," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said. "It'll be fun to see who steps up."
More painful than Williams' departure may have been the controversial comments he made on his way out of town, telling USC's student newspaper, "We don't have a bunch of players who just love football. We don't have guys who are self-motivated." Those words, pretty harsh for team that just won a share of the national championship, ruffled more than a few feathers around the locker room, causing Carroll to call a team meeting Tuesday night.
Coming off the Rose Bowl victory, there was little question USC would be the consensus preseason No. 1 going into 2004. The Trojans were expected to return 17 starters before Williams and fellow All-America Kenechi Udeze turned pro.
Now, I will consider several teams along with USC for that spot, including Georgia, LSU and Oklahoma.
But while those teams have to be delighted by the short-term implications of Williams' departure, it's an ominous sign of what life may be like for marquee programs in the post-Maurice Clarett era.
USC and Miami, in particular, are relying more on freshmen and sophomores to have an impact. But now they run the risk of losing them sooner than expected if given the opportunity to showcase themselves to the NFL.
Most coaches recruit in three- to four-year cycles. Will they now have to sign players to replace the previous year's top recruits?
"This is a disturbing development," said Miami coach Larry Coker, "and could potentially be very damaging to college football, especially the recruiting process."
USC found out the hard way.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com
This is no small loss for the Trojans, as loaded as they may be.
Besides perhaps Pittsburgh's Larry Fitzgerald, Williams was the best receiver in college football over the past two seasons, which just happened to be USC's best pair of seasons in nearly 25 years. What are the chances Matt Leinart would have emerged as one of the nation's most productive quarterbacks as a first-year starter without the help of Williams and the vastly underrated Keary Colbert? For that matter, would Carson Palmer have won the 2002 Heisman Trophy had Williams not arrived as a freshman that season?
The good news for the Trojans is they've recruited better at wide receiver than any team the past two years. Rising sophomores Steve Smith and Whitney Lewis were among the top receiver prospects last year. Ditto Fred Davis (who enrolled in January and already is participating in team conditioning drills) and Dwayne Jarrett this year.
The bad news is, those guys have almost no experience. Williams and Colbert, a departing senior, accounted for 85.6 percent of the yards gained by USC receivers during its national championship season. Smith, however, did catch 17 balls for 319 yards, and Davis, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound specimen, is physically ready to play as a true freshman.
"Our team is well-prepared for his leaving," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said. "It'll be fun to see who steps up."
More painful than Williams' departure may have been the controversial comments he made on his way out of town, telling USC's student newspaper, "We don't have a bunch of players who just love football. We don't have guys who are self-motivated." Those words, pretty harsh for team that just won a share of the national championship, ruffled more than a few feathers around the locker room, causing Carroll to call a team meeting Tuesday night.
Coming off the Rose Bowl victory, there was little question USC would be the consensus preseason No. 1 going into 2004. The Trojans were expected to return 17 starters before Williams and fellow All-America Kenechi Udeze turned pro.
Now, I will consider several teams along with USC for that spot, including Georgia, LSU and Oklahoma.
But while those teams have to be delighted by the short-term implications of Williams' departure, it's an ominous sign of what life may be like for marquee programs in the post-Maurice Clarett era.
USC and Miami, in particular, are relying more on freshmen and sophomores to have an impact. But now they run the risk of losing them sooner than expected if given the opportunity to showcase themselves to the NFL.
Most coaches recruit in three- to four-year cycles. Will they now have to sign players to replace the previous year's top recruits?
"This is a disturbing development," said Miami coach Larry Coker, "and could potentially be very damaging to college football, especially the recruiting process."
USC found out the hard way.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com
