Three-Point Stance: Best In Class

Welcome back to the Three-Point Stance, our little corner on TrojanSports.com to examine a trio of USC-related items worth talking about.

Signing Day is over, of course, but we're not ready to put a bow on 2015 recruiting just yet - especially not after USC signed the best recruiting class in the country. To that end, we're using this week to take another look at the strongest position groups in the signing class.

Up first are the defensive backs.

Scholarship limitations suck. There are more eloquent ways to put that, more creative sentences to write that aren't - verbatim - what Trojan fans have said for the last four years. But when you get to the heart of the matter, that's what matters, right? At the end of the day, the situation is rotten. It sucks.

While neutral observers point out that this year marked USC's long-awaited return to a full complement of rides, TrojanSports readers know better. There were 25 scholarships, sure, but the lingering traces of the NCAA sanctions essentially mean that Steve Sarkisian and his staff can't backdate early entries for at least the next couple of years, either because it's expressly forbidden (as is the case this year going back to last year's class) or that they'll sign so many players restore roster depth that there are no initial counters left from the year before.

That's the obvious nature of the beast, and it becomes more obvious at the glaring need positions. It becomes very obvious that there aren't enough rides to go around when USC signs five defensive linemen, for instance, and they probably could stand to take two more to deal with an upcoming roster shortage. But the places where that shortage is felt almost as acutely are the in-between spots, the shallow areas where USC has to devote numbers but can't overcommit too many rides lest they get hurt more in even worse areas. Every player they sign has to make good, because they can't afford to overcompensate with breadth. The staff can't miss.

There's no way to accurately predict who will or won't totally develop four years ahead of time, of course. Their best chance comes from signing the finest prospects available and betting on pedigree winning out.

All of that brings me to the defensive backs, an impressive enough group in its own right but one that's especially so given these circumstances. With just Leon McQuay and John Plattenburg returning, USC desperately needed safeties. They also needed more cornerbacks to combat the proliferation of multi-receiver sets, something that only holds more true now that Rahshead Johnson and Devian Shelton have left the program. And the coaching staff could reasonably budget only four, probably five at most scholarships toward solving those issues. There was no margin for error, here.

All USC did with that burden and that pressure and that knowledge was sign perhaps the four best defensive backs in the entire state of California in a completely loaded in-state class.

It starts with Iman Marshall, Rivals' third-ranked overall prospect and top cornerback by a mile, because it simply has to. The truth about recruiting rankings is that there are five-star prospects and then there are special five-star prospects. The latter are guys who are so obviously talented and poised that, barring serious injury, they are destined to be All-Americans. Robert Woods was one such player, as was Su'a Cravens in the 2013 class. Adoree' Jackson is another. And Biggie Marshall is that kind of special talent, too. 6-foot-1, 195-pound cornerbacks simply should not be able to move as fluidly as he does. The fact that he exits high school with remarkably advanced technique, as well as rare physicality, makes it almost impossible to spot a weakness in his game. Historically speaking, cornerback is the weakest position in USC history, which makes the fact it even more ridiculous that the Trojans could potentially field a pair of first-round corners next to each other with Jackson playing the field and Marshall on the boundary. It may take time to get there, but the scenario is in play. We could be heading toward a golden age at corner here at Troy.

That golden age, by the way, also includes Isaiah Langley. It says a lot about how good this class is - and, OK, how good Marshall is as well - that Langley has been something of a forgotten man since he committed to USC back in July. So let's rectify that: Only seven players in the entire country were ranked higher at the cornerback position than the Pleasanton native. In nearly any other class, Langley would be celebrated for what he is; namely, a secondary headliner and a bonafide elite prospect at corner. Or, that could be receiver - on a different team, maybe even tailback - because he is tremendous with the ball in his hands, too. Langley's first task needs to be adding strength, and because cornerback is the deepest spot on the whole roster he may be in line for a redshirt. If that happens, it's not a knock on what he brings to the table. He's a top-shelf talent.

There's no scientific way to measure what I'm about to say, I'm aware, but if you could measure which players make every analyst who watches him life into total believers, I'm convinced by now that Ykili Ross would be among the top ten players in the entire country. This time last year, the Riverside Poly product was but a blip on the national - and even local - radar. That he finished as Rivals' 38th-ranked player owes itself to everyone who saw him being totally blown away. Our own Chris Swanson has said time and again that he believes Ross is a five-star talent. West Coast analyst Adam Gorney sees him as a less thick but more athletic JuJu Smith, which speaks volumes. His two-way potential at safety and receiver is reminiscent of Smith and Marqise Lee before him, but where Ross differs is that he's so good at both spots that there is no consensus the way there was when most expected each of Smith and Lee to be better on defense. Watch him catch the ball and you wonder how USC could even consider letting him play defense. But then you watch him patrol the defensive backfield, either in zone or in man, and you conclude that he's too valuable to put on offense. Given the aforementioned lack of depth at safety we think he'll ultimately spend more time with the DBs. But it's certainly a good conundrum for USC to be in.

Finally, there's Marvell Tell. There is plenty of truth to the time honored maxim of, "It's not where you start, it's where you finish" but given how volatile today's recruiting has become, there is something to be said for the players that have proven their mettle and held their spot for years on end. Marshall is the consummate example of that, not just in-state but for this entire class nationally. But next to him, arguably no California defensive back had cultivated and ultimately lived up to a lofty reputation the way Tell did. Some highly sought-after players fell by the wayside in this class, while others like Ross rose up but Tell had established himself as a standard bearer for well over two years at Crespi and that momentum never slowed down. It's easy to see why: At 6-foot-3, he's got the size and physicality to be a downhill thumper, yet as Sarkisian pointed out on Signing Day he can cover like a tall corner. That he did it at a traditional power high school only underscores his impact. Every week, people expected Tell to deliver and more often than not, he did just that. The sixth-ranked overall safety in any class would be expected to contribute early but that should hold especially true for Tell as a freshman.

Along with his three compatriots in the secondary, USC aimed high to fill precious needs. That it hit on all of them underscores how impressive a class this truly was.