It has been a thing for quite some time in college football that there is real SEC bias, and even more so when it pertains to the USC Trojans.
The Trojans have ruled the West Coast for most of their existence, but after a decade of somewhat irrelevance, it seems that people are now not only questioning the potential of USC but also apparently the talent pool that they recruit from.
Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman are two college football analysts for On3. They have become known by many in the Trojan family as USC haters.
Whether I agree with that or not is irrelevant, but a take they had on their latest show is certainly a bit of a head scratcher.
Wasserman Makes Bold Statement About USC Trojans Recruiting And California Prospects
On their latest Andy & Ari Show on On3, the two discussed a number of topics regarding the decline of USC and why they are not confident in Lincoln Riley getting it turned around for the 2025 season.
At one point, Oregon and recruiting in California came up, and Wasserman went on a rant about how California recruits are apparently overrated and not as good as Southern kids.
“California has a bunch of really, really highly rated players all the time in the Top 100, and they don’t hit at the same rate as Southern players do. So there is a question of whether or not California players that they use to subsidize their entire roster are good enough. How many 5-star players signed during the Clay Helton era that turned out to be dog****?… The California, ‘their the best players in the country thing’ I think is not true right now.”
This is certainly a choice, and using the USC Trojans Clay Helton era to back up your argument is probably not the wisest decision, as we all know that the development during those years was atrocious.
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There are a ton of data points that would need to be looked at to even begin to prove this theory, but one thing is very obvious. All of the top programs around the country come to California to try and recruit kids away from the USC Trojans.
California high schools are always ranked among the best in the country. Wasserman’s very own On3 ranks 4 California High Schools in the National Top 20, the most of any state. Two of those schools are in the Top 5, and the No. 1 school, Mater Dei, is the reigning wire-to-wire National Champion and will be the favorite to repeat this year.
One could make the argument that Georgia, Florida, or Texas is the top state when it comes to overall talent. I’m not saying I agree with that, and I certainly don’t think that USC Trojans new GM Chad Bowden agrees with that, but there is 100% an argument to be made.
But to question that the California talent is not good enough, or to even bring that up as a reason as to why USC (who has recruited the state of California historically low recently until the 2026 class) has been down as of late, is not only not true, it’s laughable.
More on this on the USC LAFB Show to come. Tune in and subscribe to the channel!