Clay Helton on signing day: 'We battle all the time for the best players'

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USC coach Clay Helton had his talking points Wednesday as he faced the media to discuss the Trojans' 11 signees during the start of the NCAA's early signing period.

With each question about what this USC class lacked, he understandably tried to steer the conversation back to what the Trojans had. When he was asked questions pertaining to recruiting rankings, he talked instead about fit. Continually, he reminded reporters that USC filled its needs along the offensive and defensive lines.

In fairness, there wasn't much Helton could say Wednesday that would have appeased fans.

While there was buzz throughout the weekend and first part of the week that the Trojans could reel in local 5-star linebacker Justin Flowe (Upland HS), the potential game-changing target instead announced live on ESPNU in the morning that he would be signing with Oregon.

As for USC, it presently has one 4-star prospect (Moorpark HS OL Jonah Monheim), nine 3-star prospects and a scholarship kicker signed in this 2020 class. The only surprise addition for the Trojans on early signing day was 3-star DE Tuli Tuipulotu (Lawndale HS).

A couple of the program's top remaining targets -- 4-star WR Gary Bryant (Corona Centennial HS) and 4-star CB Darion Green-Warren (Narbonne HS) -- have delayed formal announcements until the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 4, though they were expected to quietly sign with their school of choice this week. USC is perceived to be in good position for Bryant, while Michigan had emerged as a major contender with Green-Warren late in this process.

USC can also add to its class further before National Signing Day in February, though as Helton reiterated Wednesday this will be a small class due to scholarship limits.

That too was an emphasis of his comments Wednesday while deflecting questions about the recruiting rankings or what impact the year-long speculation about his job status had on the process.

RELATED: Our Early Signing Day Tracker is a good roundup of what happened and where things stand | Helton comments on each signee | Watch Helton's full press conference

"It's nice to sign great players, but it's also nice to sign great players that you have to have," he said. "If you all of a sudden don't take a view of a picture that's one, two years ahead and acquire what you need at certain positions, then you're going to get overloaded and you're going to look up and you're going to be weak at a position. The one thing I can say about our team, as you look and I think everybody would be in agreement here, is our depth at each position is equal. You don't see a weakness …

"The guys that we signed, I know there's a lot of stars out there, there's a lot of evaluation, but in a smaller class we had to go address our needs and the needs were big men and they needed to be 300-pounders. And that's why when you look up at these 11 men, eight of them are those interior big men."

There's no arguing that need. USC brought in just two offensive linemen in each of the last two cycles, and it was indeed a priority to replenish depth at that position and build a foundation for the future.

The Trojans brought in some intriguing prospects along the offensive line with Monheim (6-foot-5, 290 pounds), the 4-star OT from Moorpark; 3-star Casey Collier (6-7, 290), from Barbers Hill HS in Mont Belvieu, Texas; 3-star Courtland Ford (6-5, 305), from Cedar Hill HS in Cedar Hill, Texas; 3-star Andres Dewerk (6-7, 295), from Los Gatos HS in San Jose, Calif.; 3-star Andrew Milek (6-5, 290), from Brophy Prep in Chandler, Ariz.; and 3-star Caadyn Stephen (6-5, 285), from Camas HS in Camas, Wash.

On the defensive side, USC signed 3-star DT Kobe Pepe (6-1, 295), from St. John Bosco HS; 3-star DT Jamar Sekona (6-2, 300), from Marin Catholic HS in Kentfield, Calif.; and 3-star DE Tuli Tuipulotu (6-3, 265), from Lawndale HS.

Again, Tuipulotu, the younger brother of USC starting DT Marlon Tuipulotu, was the only new addition Wednesday who wasn't previously committed.

Joshua Jackson, a 3-star WR from Narbonne HS, was the only offensive skill position player signed. And 2-star K Parker Lewis, from Saguaro HS in Scottsdale, Ariz., rounded out the early signees.

Jackson, Pepe and Lewis are early enrollees while the rest will join the program in the summer.

As it presently stands, USC's 2020 class is ranked 74th -- obviously an all-time low for the program in the history of the Rivals rankings, which go back to 2002. The Trojans are a spot ahead of Navy, last in the Pac-12 and also behind the likes of non-Power 5 programs Louisiana Tech (57), Western Michigan (60), Army (64), Bowling Green (64), Tulane (69) and Middle Tennessee State (71).

"I will say that the numbers are limited in this class, like I've said. It's not going to be [about] the national ranking because you just don't have the numbers, but it does fill the needs," Helton said. "And I'm more worried, again, about wins than I am about winning today. I'm more worried about winning on Saturdays."

Monheim, ranked the No. 25 player in the state of California, is the only top-25 in-state player in that group.

Only five of those top-25 California prospects remain publicly uncommitted, including Bryant (No. 6); WR LV Bunkley-Shelton (No. 13), who has been recruited by USC but there has been no recent buzz between the two sides; and Green-Warren (No. 22).

After not directly answering the first question about the recent downward trend for USC in regard to the top in-state prospects, Helton was asked again if that was a point of emphasis for him moving forward.

"I've had the opportunity to be here for 10 years, be the head coach for five. I think the young men that are currently on this team, I think every one of them we've signed, so it gives us the opportunity to say, 'We do sign good players, great players," he said.

That is not the question. USC has indeed brought in some loaded classes under Helton -- including the No. 6-ranked class in 2017 and No. 3 in 2018, a year in which the Trojans signed five 5-stars and 13 4-stars.

Even a 2019 class ranked No. 18 turned out better than initially evaluated as 5-star freshmen Bru McCoy and Chris Steele transferred into the program over the summer and 3-star QB Kedon Slovis proved to be severely underrated.

The question also isn't so much about the guys the Trojans signed -- it's about who else fans would have hoped to see joining them. It's about the Justin Flowe's, who don't preclude the program from addressing its OL needs. More than anything, the question is really about the trajectory moving forward -- with this class being a revealing statement of how the latest crop of top-ranked talent views the Trojans.

"We're always looking for the top talent," Helton said. "I'm happy for those men that signed today and found their perfect fit for them. You don't win all battles, we didn't bat 100 percent. On these guys I can promise you, as you know, we've had these guys for a long time and their strength and their character and them being USC Trojans I thought was special. We battle all the time for the best players, we always will -- we always will. But we got what we needed today. We didn't bat 100 percent, there are some battles that are continuing to go on that I look forward to revisiting with you in February."

Helton had a tough job at the podium Wednesday.

Not only was he going to be asked about the aforementioned topics, but he was asked about USC athletic director Mike Bohn's comments in an interview with this site and others a couple weeks ago that recruiting was "going dramatically better than anyone wants to admit," and later in an interview with on-campus Annenberg Media that the Trojans had a few silent commits in hand.

"Well, to be able to have what we acquired with such a limited number, I'm very satisfied, with what we needed," Helton said. "At the end of the day, I'm not necessarily about perception, I'm about wins and how to produce the best football team. So you have to not worry about maybe popular opinion and get exactly what your needs are as a team. And you have to understand this, when you sign big men there's not as much flash, I get it. Everybody likes the quarterbacks and the wideouts and the DBs and the linebackers. But we needed to get this done today, and there's another signing period so we've got some other opportunities that are out there."

As for the silent commits Bohn noted, Helton said he was not allowed to talk about it and referenced the desire for some prospects to save their announcements for the all-star games.

The verdict will remain out on that for the time being, though fans have been quick to pounce on those comments from Bohn.

It will be interesting to see what USC can do the rest of this cycle. The Trojans are still waiting for a decision from 4-star running back Michael Drennen II (Coffman HS/Dublin, Ohio) and 4-star cornerback Dwight McGlothern (Klein Oak HS/Spring, Texas), who took official visits this month.

Helton wouldn't say how many more scholarships he thought he could fill in this cycle. Estimates earlier this fall had the number around 16-19, but that depends on roster turnover.

Helton also didn't want to address what positions would be priorities the rest of this class, or whether the Trojans would like to add a quarterback (after 5-star prospect Bryce Young flipped to Alabama in September).

"Right now, for us, we are in a very good position as you saw today addressing the needs of the big men," he said, circling back to his familiar refrain. "I think as we move along you'll see some skill positions will get signed in the future, and that will be an area that we will look into, and I'm going to leave it at that because I don't want to give any game plan or give anybody else an opportunity to hurt me on it."

As mentioned, Helton was also asked to assess the impact his uncertain job status -- before Bohn announced he'd remain as head coach 11 days after the final regular-season game and four days after the Trojans' Pac-12 fate was sealed -- had on recruiting efforts.

Again, it's a tough question for him to say anything other than what he did, emphasizing the support he's received and pointing to offensive coordinator Graham Harrell's new lucrative contract extension.

"I've experienced nothing since the day President [Carol] Folt and Mike Bohn stepped on campus, nothing but support. And for them to make that type of gesture, to be able to say, hey, what do we need to do and let's prioritize our OC is here, that's a huge statement," Helton said. "And kids see that. And all of a sudden you look up and you have the type of young talent that we have, and now you look at the men that are coming with us, the future is bright. And people see that and kids see that."

No, there was not much Helton could have said that would have appeased a frustrated fan base Wednesday.

USC brought in some intriguing prospects, and as last cycle showed with Slovis and 3-star running back Kenan Christon in particular, the star rankings don't bat 100 percent either.

Nonetheless, in totality, this is not a typical USC recruiting class -- far from it. That's what many see, and no words Wendesday from Helton were going to change that.

He may not be worried about the perception, but the Trojans' fan base certainly is.