Trojans Today: Wednesday morning roundup and 2021 recruiting poll question
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**This is a new daily morning segment at TrojanSports.com, as a way to recap the previous day, set the stage for the day ahead, highlight the best of social media and the best of this board. See the debut installments from Monday here and Tuesday here as we looked back on previous poll questions.**
Question of the Day
Where will USC finish in the 2021 Rivals recruiting rankings?
Simple and direct -- how much do you believe in the Trojans' early recruiting momentum. USC enters Wednesday ranked 13th with six commitments -- four 4-stars and two more who could be 4-stars eventually in OT Mason Murphy and S Xamarion Gordon. Everyone knows what happened in the 2020 cycle, making this 2021 class of even greater pivotal importance for the program moving forward. So far so good, but where will it end up?
The polls are in ...
Yesterday, we asked how many passing yards Kedon Slovis would end up with, assuming a full 2020 season for USC.
It's hard to injury potential into the equation -- Slovis missed two games last fall with a concussion and the second half of the bowl game with an elbow injury -- and then there is the JT Daniels variable, as the former starting QB returns from his knee injury looking to compete for his old job.
We had 25 votes on the poll as of Wednesday morning, and 14 believe Slovis will pass for between 4,000 and 4,500 yards, giving him a chance to break Sam Darnold's USC single-season record of 4,143. Another 10 voters went with 3,500-4,000, essentially repeating the season he had last year (3,502, albeit in only about three-fourths of the season), and 1 voter predicted less than 2,500 yards and/or Daniels plays a major role at QB.
As we noted, Slovis averaged 380.5 passing yards over the final six games last season (including his injury-shortened bowl performance). Sustaining that pace over 12 regular-season games would put him at 4,566. That's unlikely for a couple of reasons -- injury risk and the fact that USC's passing stats skewed over that stretch as its running back depth was decimated.
That said, my vote was for the 4,000-4,500 range. While some note that most of USC's toughest games were over the first half of the schedule, I'd counter that Slovis didn't really get a chance to settle in until the second half of the season, so I put more stock in those performances. He was thrust in off the bench and asked to throw few passes vs. Fresno State. After a breakout game vs. Stanford, he struggled in his first road start at BYU. He then missed nearly two full games plus a bye week, adding up to about a month before he got back on the field again. It's only logical that the quarterback we saw over the second half of the season, gaining comfort, confidence and momentum with each passing week, would be a truer reflection of his potential.
So while I don't think he throws for 380.5 yards per game in 2020, I think he indeed takes aim at Darnold's single-season passing record.
Whenever this topic is discussed I always feel compelled to make this point about Daniels. He was dealt an incredibly bad break last fall -- a season-ending injury two quarters into the opener, followed by his replacement becoming one of the best stories in college football. I continue to believe that had he stayed healthy, Daniels would have had a breakout season in 2019 and fully delivered on his 5-star recruiting ranking.
Would he have had the same kind of season as Slovis? That I can't say. Slovis was phenomenal down the stretch and set the bar incredibly high.While I have no doubt Daniels could step in and lead this offense to a big season in 2020, I don't see any way USC moves off Slovis unless his elbow injury resurfaces as an issue moving forward.
Tuesday headlines
-2022 TE Holden Staes, from Atlanta, reacts to a wave of offers and talks USC interest
-Trojans Today: Tuesday morning column on 2020 expectations and more
Commitment watch
Local 4-star ATH Anthony Beavers, who most schools are recruiting as a safety, is set to announce his college decision at 2 p.m. PT Wednesday. Beavers put out a top 5 list on April 1 that didn't include USC, and he maintains that was not an April Fool's joke, but he remains in regular communication with Trojans assistant coaches Donte Williams and Craig Naivar. The former Oregon commit was especially close to Williams and acknowledged that USC's hiring of the CBs coach away from the Ducks was significant in his recruitment. Read into all that what you will.
Top tweets
Beavers seems ready to make his announcement ...
Top 2022 cornerback prospect Domani Jackson chimes in on Beavers' decision ...
The USC social media staff is really bringing it these days ...
USC again had every member of the football staff tweet out a message of support through this ongoing lockdown. Meanwhile, fans were digging the new shirt ...
But USC football director of HS relations Armond Hawkins Jr. put the most effort into his video ...
Former USC QBs coach Bryan Ellis -- the one responsible for scouting and offering Slovis -- announced the birth of his son ...
Top Trojan Talk post of the day
Subscriber Rawl posed an engaging hypothetical on the board Tuesday -- after seeing USC withstand several waves of interest for offensive coordinator Graham Harrell this past offseason, what would the Trojans do next year if he does end up getting a head coaching offer he can't turn down? We discussed that here.