OT: Rumors of Mass Transfers from USC

Submitted by HimJarbaugh on

This is coming from r/cfb whose sources are a couple posts from a USC board, but it sounds like the transfer talk is legit. 

Allegedely OL EJ Price punched head coach Clay Helton and is transferring to Georgia. The post also mentions a number of other players that plan to transfer:

  • Freshman Safety Jamel Cook
  • Junior OT Chuma Edoga
  • Junior QB Max Browne

The post also mentions Adoree Jackson and Juju Smith however I am not sure if those would be transfers as they are probably NFL-ready.

Apparently Helton will address the situation today but if there are lots of transfers, this can't be a good look to recruits.

Link to Reddit post

Link to 247 Post

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stephenrjking

September 20th, 2016 at 4:40 PM ^

Part of a program's inherent attractiveness to a coach is a structural strength: fanbase, finances, recruiting base, facilities, etc. In that sense, programs like Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, USC, and Michigan will always be draws, because the right coach can rev up turbocharged engine and start winning.

We have also seen that the administration in place can play a factor. It's pretty clear that Jim Harbaugh would never have come to Michigan if Dave Brandon were still the AD, and I think we all pretty much understand that he would have made the right choice. He's a Michigan guy, but he also has a job and cares about his work environment.

The situation in USC is a big questionmark right now. I don't think there's any way to know if Lynn Swann is a good AD or not. His profile--former athlete with media experience, not so much AD experience--is not promising, though all reports suggest that he's a quality person. Being a quality person isn't necessarily enough, though.

So I'm not sure if Herman is comfortable with the management situation at USC right now. But they'd be a great place to win.

He can basically pick his job and his salary next year.

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Frank Chuck

September 20th, 2016 at 4:21 PM ^

I had a mentor of mine suggest in late 2013 that Michigan should hire Tom Herman away from Ohio State. I think he would have pretty damn successful. And it would have certainly been Bo v. Woody 2.0.

I'm happy with Harbaugh but I'll always wonder what would have happened if we had a competent AD working for us in the early part of the decade and had the intestinal fortitude to pull a Don Canham.

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stephenrjking

September 20th, 2016 at 4:42 PM ^

Brian said that Herman was his second choice, and I was pretty much on board with that. I was quite disappointed when he went to Houston, because the Harbaugh search was still very much up in the air at the time.

Obviously, Harbaugh was the right guy. But, if he hadn't come, Herman would also have been the right guy, had they tried to get him.

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I dumped the Dope

September 20th, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^

I would take Adoree Jackson...he can even punt.... 8-D

The lolz is from his vast high school highlight tape where he basically fake punted like mad (was essentially a deep snap wildcat play)and just outran everyone in sight for TDs, first downs, etc.

And...we have the makings of a real track & field programme now!

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Gitback

September 20th, 2016 at 3:28 PM ^

This all really underscores how fortunate we were from Bo through Lloyd ('69 - '07) with respect to consistency.  Michgian was virtually always in the conference title discussion, went to a bowl every year, and other than the thing with Moeller, had very little controversy.  

We complained about bowl losses and consecutive 4 loss seasons, but our variance was minimal compared to what a lot of other blue bloods experienced.  USC pre Carrol, Alabama between Stallings and Saban, ND pre/post-Holtz, Oklahoma between Switzer and Stoops... we were the model of consistency, along with OSU (which was still plagued by Cooper's lack of success against us for one, very AWESOME decade).

That's what made the Rich Rod/Hoke crash so jarring.  From Bo through Lloyd Michigan may not have been always setting the world on fire (like the Miamis or Florida States of the world) but we also were never flaming out either.  We were always in the conversation, always relevant, and more than occassionally, DAMN GOOD.  We always wanted more of course, which is natural.  

Then we went through '08 - '14 and, well, we were just hoping to get back to "relevant" status... until HARBAUGH.  

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Brick in The Wave

September 20th, 2016 at 5:32 PM ^

Makes you wonder if, barring any major scandals/uproars, it is acutally better to stay the course with some of these coaches.  

There was some research out of Colorado (IIRC) a couple of years ago that basically said that firing a coach because of lack of wins generally doesn't translate to more wins in the subsequent years.

I looked through my past posts to find it but alas I could not.

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Sopwith

September 20th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^

Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell ya, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because If anyone had said anything at all when I first started here that kind of thing was frowned upon... cause I've been on a lot of teams, and I tell ya, people do that all the time.

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Yooper

September 20th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^

They both got played by their head coaches.  If either had known the truth about the intentions of their coaches they would have transferred before school and the season started.  Both burned a year and will never play now unless an injury occurs.

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WolvinLA2

September 20th, 2016 at 4:08 PM ^

Wait, how did Browne get screwed? It was a QB battle which Browne won, but didn't play as well as they thought he would. So now they're trying the other guy. What should Helton have done? Not play the guy he thought was better so he could transfer? If Browne wanted to transfer, he should have. I don't see how this is on the coaches. You're either a part of the team or your aren't. I'd be pissed if Harbaugh made coaching decisions based on the potential transfer of a guy who hasn't mentioned anything about transferring.

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stephenrjking

September 20th, 2016 at 5:16 PM ^

Yeah, agree here. Browne got his chance. Tough for him, but I doubt this is a serious miscarriage of justice.

Still, it was striking to see a couple of his quotes on twitter, where he basically said he figured he'd never get the job back. Sounded like emotional resignation, which can be a bit understandable but not something you want from a guy who is a hard hit away from being back under center. That, more than anything, is what suggests to me that there's fire to all this smoke. But you are right about this.

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MGoCombs

September 20th, 2016 at 8:00 PM ^

Disagree, but especially about Zaire.

  • For one, losing out to a better performing QB isn't getting screwed. He had a chance when he came back.
  • For two, he has another year of eligibility and is set to graduate academically after the fall, making him an obvious candidate for a graduate transfer and he won't sit a year (which he would have had to last season). 
  • For three, there's a moderate possibility that Kizer goes pro and Zaire starts next season.

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