Trojans Among Least Experienced Squads and More USC Football News

Phil Steele’s measure of the most experienced squads in college football features USC football among the least upperclassman-heavy teams, plus more news from around the web.

Can’t get enough USC football and basketball news? We’ve got your morning dose of all the best content from around the web concerning the men of Troy.

1st & 10:

First Word… Last week it was noted that USC’s offensive line is among the most experienced in the country this year.

This week, Phil Steele detailed experience across the board, as far as it could be determined by class status.

Unsurprisingly, the Trojans don’t rank very high in a measure of upperclassmen involved in the two-deep. In fact, they rank 107th in the nation according to Steele’s calculations.

The college football preview specialist broke down the two-deeps of the 128 teams in the FBS then assigned points for every senior starter and senior in the two-deep, then juniors with a lesser value, then sophomores and freshmen with progressively less points.

USC has four senior starters with six more on the two-deep, ten junior starters with two more on the two-deep, eight sophomore starters with seven on the two-deep and zero freshmen starters but seven on the two-deep.

That’s how USC ended up as the second-least experienced squad in the Pac-12, behind only Stanford.

The interesting thing about Steele’s calculation is that being inexperienced seems to have no bearing on projected success. Steele’s own preseason Top 25 is proof of that.

Seven of the top ten teams for 2016 — Florida State, Oklahoma, Clemson, Ohio State, Washington, Notre Dame and Stanford — rank even lower than USC in experience. Ten of the Top 25 rank in the bottom 25 for experience as well.

One thing to note? USC’s senior class this year is made up of recruits from 2012 and 2013, small classes effected by scholarship reductions.

And Ten USC Football and Basketball News Links…

1. “Satellite camps bring recruiting close to home” (LA Times)The LA Times hit up almost a dozen satellite camps this summer to get a look at perhaps the most controversial part of college football these days.
2. “Mailbag: Questioning Oregon’s ‘decline'” (ESPN)Ted Miller answers questions on Oregon’s potential decline and the most improved teams this summer — USC’s addition of Stevie Tu’ikolovatu on the defensive line makes them a candidate.
3. “IMHO Sunday: Changing of the guard” (WeAreSC.com)Greg Katz gives his humble opinion on the transition from Pat Haden to Lynn Swann, recruits and coaches using twitter and lots of camp talk.
4. “Agholor Investigation Is Now With D.A.” (Philadelphia Magazine)Nelson Agholor’s sexual assault case is now in the D.A.’s hands, which means a decision should be made on whether or not charges will be pursued. David Gambacorta details the legal process and touches on reports that the receiver was set up.
5. “Five-star Friday: Get to know top-tier recruit Stephen Carr” (SI.com)Chris Johnson takes a look at USC commit Stephen Carr, one of the most highly-coveted running backs in the 2017 class.
6. “SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 visits on 5-star Chase Young’s mind” (Scout)Chase Young, a highly-rated defensive end for 2017, talked to Brian Dohn about the schools he’s considering taking visits to including USC, Alabama, Ohio State and Oregon.
7. “West Region’s No. 5 Safety K.J. Jarrell Visits USC” (Scout)Four-star safety K.J. Jarrell was on campus for USC’s Rising Stars Camp. He talked to Blair Angulo about how his visit went and where the Trojans want to play him (Spoiler: Free safety)
8. “2018 five-star all-purpose back released Top 9 list” (247 Sports)Ohio-based recruit Jaelen Gill named USC among his top schools along with Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, UCLA, USC and Virginia Tech.
9. “College Football’s Burning Questions” (Campus Insiders)One of Ray Crawford’s burning questions for 2016 is whether or not we’ll see Adoree’ Jackson in Rio for the Olympics.
10. “Full 12-Man USA Basketball Roster for Olympics” (College Spun)Jackson may have a tough time making the Olympic squad but Trojan DeMar DeRozen will represent USC on the USA Basketball squad.

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