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It’s that time of year where the Pac-12 powerhouses, spurned by their dream prospects, begin turning to the rest of the conference in search of fresh opportunity.
Well, actually, in the case of the USC Trojans, it might actually be just trying to find anyone.
USC currently has a recruiting class that is ranked somewhere in the bottom-quartile of FBS programs. It’s ninth in the conference, even below UCLA, and ranked lower than Toledo. The Trojans have eleven commits in this class, and only one four-star verbal. That is bizarre.
So USC handed out two offers to two Cal offensive commits. One is running back Chris Street, the other to athlete Casey Filkins.
#USC has offered San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) JSerra RB and current #Cal commit Chris Street @_groundzer0
— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) October 17, 2019
Honored to receive an offer to play running back at The University of Southern California! pic.twitter.com/VylDnY0Tl2
— Casey Filkins (@cfilk9_) October 17, 2019
The bigger threat to Filkins might be Stanford, and former Cal running back coach/current Cardinal run game coordinator Ron Gould. The Cardinal also offered earlier today.
Honored to receive a scholarship to play running back at Stanford University! pic.twitter.com/tv1jpfOyNB
— Casey Filkins (@cfilk9_) October 17, 2019
Stanford currently is sitting on a top-25 recruiting class but is in need of a running back to fill it out.
Filkins did point out in both of his tweets that USC and Stanford have offered him at running back, while Cal sees him more as a slot receiver. You have to imagine that being a RB is a bit more glamorous than going at slot, so might Cal have to modify its pitch? That might be difficult with Cal already having two RB commits in Street and Damien Moore.
It’s unclear at all where Street fits. His original commitment story sounds super positive. However, JSerra (Street’s high school) and USC have strong connections. This will be a fight to the finish.
Oregon is also throwing its ducks into the ring. Cal WR commit Jeremiah Hunter will be taking a trip to Eugene next week. He is still leaning toward the Bears but is leaving some wiggle room open until he concludes his visit to the Ducks. More from 247Sports:
The 6-2, 177-pounder said he thinks he’ll have a final decision, though, before potential visits to Oregon State and Arizona State.
”I think after my visit to Oregon, I’ll know for sure,” said Hunter.
Cal has a bevy of skill position talent in this class, and other programs have started to take notice.