That was the whole reason he went to ASU - he thought he was too good to wait behind anyone and was good enough to play (which on talent, yes, but not the best developmental path). Oh yeah, and parental influence. That impatience might have cost him a lot of money …
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Coaching and underdevelopment of talent.
I agree that underdevelopment of talent and coaching is an issue at USC. But even with that underdevelopment, they are so freaking talented. Like, leaps and bounds talented.
The last five years, they are the 11th most talented team according to 247. And that includes last year’s dismal classs, rankings wise (64th nationally). The next P12 team is Oregon, Washington, Stanford at 18, 19, 20. ASU is 24, UCLA is 36 and Utah is 38.
And outside of Oregon, the rest of those teams have issues: Utah’s being a lack of talent comparatively. UW has a new coaching staff, Stanford has no offensive identity, UCLA has Chip Kelly and ASU is starting over with their talent.
Give me talent man. We saw what talent did to Utah last year: Coaching up a team is awesome, but if a more talented team wants to beat you, say a team like USC, Oregon or Texas, guess what? They gonna beat you. And beat you good.
USC has FIVE WR’s that would be the most talented players to play at Utah. FIVE guys rated a .9766 or higher. And their QB is fantastic. That alone will win them a lot of games. USC has 10 guys rated higher than Clark Phillips. Our next highest rated player is a .92 (a true freshman). They have 24 player rated a .92 or higher.
I think we downplay recruiting because we have been so successful at Utah with lackluster classes, but at the end of the day, talent wins. And USC has a ■■■■ ton of talent.
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USC does so little with so much talent that it is inexplicable
42-24 with all that talent? Meanwhile, as you said, Utah was 38th. They went 46-21. Give me Utah by a Million.
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One theory for explaining that is that the highly-touted kids who go to USC are not very coachable. They’re all terrific athletes and all feel they should be starting, and they’re not really used to being beaten up on by coaches. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s plausible.
I don’t buy this because Pete Carroll never had that issue. It’s the fact that they keep hiring bad coaches. Instead of a great coach, they want something flashy…or in the case of Helton, cheap.
You put Urban or Whitt or Carroll there today, and they win the P12 this year and a national title within three years.
Not trying to insert my coach in there but the switch in development happened when he was hired at UA. Same as you said with Pete. The knock on Tennessee during the Phil Fulmer years were the 5* players gradually got worse or never changed at best. Some guys can pick groceries but don’t know how to cook.
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I am SO stealing this saying, true in so many situations…
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