Wanted to make a second post for emphasis of a few points. I have long not been impressed with star rankings or recruit ratings, especially so at Rutgers. Time and time again, we see highly rated players not live up to their ratings. Does not mean Rutgers should not recruit 4 and 5 star talent--of course not. But fit into the program is important.
From the article:
"The Trojans landed high-profile defensive prospects during the 2021 cycle — Clay Helton’s last class — but those players have not come close to living up to their rankings.. . . . .“It was like a bunch of mercenaries, just trying to get their own stats,” a Pac-12 head coach said. “They were all over the place. You’d toss it outside, and you’d see their guys going all over the place, so undisciplined. It was unbelievable. You had no idea what they were trying to get done.”
Seems like a coaching and development issue. Coaches got to coach and getting each unit to play cohesively.
“The thing I found most troublesome is they kind of got everybody they wanted, defensively, out of the portal last year, and most of those guys (didn’t make an impact), with the exception of Bear Alexander,” a longtime donor and alum said.
As the article notes, seems like there is a major culture issue at USC. Maybe Lincoln is out of his element.