We have been talking about the subject of scholarship numbers available in this class over the last few months. It pops up in any number of threads. I just don't see where the numbers are going to come from to add to this class. What got me thinking about this is the number of players who are going to be here for USC plus the fact that it seems we have players committed to the remaining slots we know to be available. We have the ten verbals plus the four players we know are looking good for four of the remaining six that we know about for sure. Maybe they are not so for sure about those slots but it makes more sense that the staff feels like there will be more available. The question I keep asking myself is, where?

Injuries happen. I can't believe the staff is planning on that. The same with academics. No way can they project that. Early entries are another route. Maybe they know something but someone is really going to have to come out of nowhere as there is no current draft eligible players who are obvious early entry players. So much of the depth chart is filled with seniors and true sophmores. The other way

is transfers but there are so many holes to fill there is no reason for players to want out. That is true for now. It is not going to be true at the end of the year. We have a young team, a lot of inexperienced players. After the season they will not be as young and those holes right now will have been filled. That means some players are not going to be happy with their playing time. Having so many young players in the mix is a great thing. The downside is once the depth chart is set, it means we have a good number of kids who are going to be thinking about their options.

We can't know who is unhappy. I doubt there are many unhappy when they look at the depth chart and see a hole in the starting job but there are a few positions that I think we can narrow it down.

We have a good number of linebackers. Considering how often we only have two on the field, we could see someone ready to look for more playing time elsewhere. The opposite is the case with corner. We see more of the them on the field a good deal of the time, but right now we have eight corners with only one senior, and it looks like we are trying to add more. Flanker/Slot is another spot with a lot of football players. 7 or 8 players depending on where Jordan Hall lines up. The only thing there is so many juniors. If they are not going now there is little reason to go after the season. They would have to step down a level just to play. Maybe that is appealing. It would not be the first time a junior has decided to leave when it looked like his last chance to play football before getting out and making a living. I look at safety with Oliver and Pentello getting passed on the depth chart by Johnson and it looks like Damicone and Wood too but you have to look at three seniors on the depth chart. One of them is on the two-deep by default next year. That is a great incentive to come back.

Mostly I worry about losing linebackers. It is the one position where we have more talent than we know what to do with, and Spitler is the only senior.We have more talent there than at any time that I can remember. I would hate to lost any of them but I can't shake the feeling that there is something more to this large contingent of players coming in for the USC game than trying to establish relationships with high talent output high schools. That is really the only reason to have that many top kids in other than there is going to be some much unexpected turnover.

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