At the Deadline: What Should the Dodgers Do?

The Dodgers’ pitching woes are becoming more and more obvious everyday.  The bullpen is stretched thin, relying on the likes of Jack Traschner and Travis Schlichting to make end’s meet.  The much-maligned rotation is improving now that Vicente Padilla has hit his stride, and could improve if Chad Billingsley’s last start is any indication of his future performance.  But still, fans would be very grateful for some kind of aid at the non-waiver trade deadline.  You can stop screaming for Roy Oswalt or Dan Haren.  Everyone knows the Dodgers need an ace, but the cost for getting one is too steep, and would likely poach the major-league roster.  A sure-fire win every fifth day is not worth a suspect lineup the other four days.  More realistic expectations:

Ted Lilly: A veteran lefty who was originally drafted by the Dodgers, Lilly is the kind of deal the Dodgers, and especially Ned Colletti, enjoy making: acquiring a pitcher at the end of his contract who could provide some veteran leadership.  The Dodgers acquired Greg Maddux from the Cubs in 2006, so the two teams do have familiarity with each other.

Ben Sheets: The oft-injured Sheets could be the ace in the hole LA needs, but he could also be another body in need of a stretcher.  His latest injury is bad news for Oakland, as Sheets looked like the most prime pitcher to be traded entering the season.

Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang:  The Dodgers tried to swing a deal with the Reds during the offseason and add a starter in exchange for Juan Pierre.  Colletti could still want one of the two, already having done extensive research on them.

Kevin Millwood:  Millwood has been battered this season, but a veteran pitcher with a nice sinker is always in demand.  The Dodgers might hope taking him out of the AL East and plugging him into the pitching-heavy NL West could yield favorable results.

Javier Vazquez:  Another starter who could use a change of scenery, Vazquez is notorious for his no-trade clause for teams in the west.  However, with his contract expiring this year, the clause could be waived.  The Yankees are looking at Dan Haren, and if they can acquire him, they become much more flexible.

UPDATE: The Dodgers are also looking at the possibility of outfielders.  According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Dodgers might be inquiring on Scott Podsednik, a veteran outfielder known for his consistent .300 batting average and speed.  If the Dodgers are looking for outfield depth, there are many other men out there, including:

Austin Kearns: Putting together a solid season for Cleveland.

Jim Edmonds: Not the same as he used to be, both in the field and at the plate.  All depends if Milwaukee feels it’s out of the race.

Coco Crisp: Defensive wiz, though Oakland might be reluctant to give him up due to an option for 2011.

Rick Ankiel: Pitcher turned outfielder could yield interest if the Royals feel like moving him.  Also has an option for next year.

Carl Crawford: While the Rays are making a big push, the club might face facts and admit they can’t keep the speedy outfielder and try to get something out of him besides two compensatory draft picks.  All depends on what the Dodgers feel they have in Manny, and if Tampa Bay can acquire Jayson Werth for the stretch run.

Aside from Crawford, imagine all of the above being available into the waiver deal period.

USC Recruiting: Why Kent Turene’s Verbal Is so Huge For The Trojans

For the past ten days, I have been on UCLA’s campus, fulfilling a contractual obligation to be a faculty advisor for some very talented high school scholars preparing to enter medical school.

And like some kind of bizarro world revenge for having a committed Trojan spending time in enemy territory, I silently and painfully watched a slow exodus of players streaming from USC.

First there was Seantrel Henderson, a fabulous talent whose physical prowess may not overcome a woeful lack of integrity (and a very strange father to boot).

Then Malik Jackson was next. A nice player whose career at USC appeared destined to hold down the bench, as he was mired in a numbers game that included players far more talented than he.

Finally, there went DJ Shoemate, a special player who was being counted on to supply rest for fullback Stanley Havilli, and whose star was just beginning to shine for the Trojans.

Though Henderson stands a chance to be great simply on physical talent alone, and to be sure, USC desperately needs offensive linemen, it is hard to miss someone who had never stepped foot on the playing field for the Trojans.

As for Jackson, he simply wasn’t good enough to make a difference for the Trojans. Seeing the writing on the wall, he left for what I am sure he believes are greener pastures.

Good luck, Malik.

However, the defection of Shoemate will be more difficult to overcome.

Shoemate had shown flashes of brilliance and he will be missed. The Trojans now have to accelerate incoming freshman Soma Vainuku’s timetable in the backup fullback role.

I have also read, with some amusement, the predictions of some of my fellow pundits demise of the Trojans.

Not so fast, haters.

Amid the doom and gloom, a shining light for Trojan fans has come from the opposite side of the country, in the form of four-star (as rated by Scout.com) linebacker Kent Turene from Boyd H. Anderson high school in Florida.

Supremely talented and filling a position of need for the Trojans, Turene’s verbal to USC means much more than finding a special player at a position that desperately needs to be re-stocked.

No, the pledge of Turene, who had more than than two dozen offers from major programs from across the country, gives the Trojans a national high profile recruit and once again signals that USC doesn’t plan to let their recent woes keep them down.

As for Turene, he had nothing but great things to say about the Trojans.

According to a recent article by Scout.com, Turene said, “I have been talking to the coaches for a very long time now. I have just been doing all of my research and found out that USC was the right school for me. I got a great feeling from the coaches.”

The feeling is mutual, Kent.

Turene, 6′3″ and 225 pounds, had 120 tackles, 10 sacks, and a couple of fumbles recovered to his credit as junior last season in high school.

Oh, and Turene plans on graduating early and enrolling in January which means that his scholarship will not count against the reduced amount available to USC. This, of course, being due to the NCAA laying the hammer down on the program for perceived violations connected to the Reggie Bush scandal.

All in all, this is a very fortuitous verbal pledge for the Trojans who desperately needed some good news.

So, Trojan haters, lets put away the shovels you planned on using to heap dirt on USC’s grave

USC is far from dead.

Kent Turene says so.

Classic Dilemma: Complexities of the All Star Game

By now you’ve heard the debate raging in the baseball world concerning the All Star fate of one Stephen Strasburg.  Should he play? Does he deserve to play? What will that mean for Matt Capps, who’s 22 saves have people backing his campaign for a trip to Anaheim?  While Strasburg did not garner enough support for an All Star bid, Omar Infante did.  Other notable snubs include Paul Konerko, Rafael Furcal, Jered Weaver, and Joey Votto.  The Strasburg debate is only one of the many controversies surrounding the Midsummer Classic.

THIS TIME, IT COUNTS: Every baseball fan will tell you that making home-field advantage for the World Series up for grabs in the All Star game is one of the worst ideas baseball has ever conceived.  In a joint venture between FOX and Bud Selig, MLB brass decided that the All Star game needed some kind of incentive to remain marketable.  The idea that the AL and NL would compete against each other for the right to home field in the championship was not the right idea.  Now managers have to play the game as though it’s a must-win, and not an exhibition.  Pitchers are used much more conservatively.  Pinch hitters become valuable pieces that cannot be wasted.  Every at-bat holds importance.

REPRESENTATIVES FROM EVERY TEAM: Each and every team sends a representative to the All Star game, giving the American League a huge advantage, one that has been working for them since 1998 when the league expanded to 30 teams.  With 14 teams in the American League, Joe Giradi doesn’t have to spend two roster spots on undeserving players like Charlie Manuel must do for the National League.  Giradi gets to use the very best of the AL, while Manuel has to find space for someone from Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Houston.

STARTERS AS RELIEVERS: The most frightening aspect of the All Star game for baseball execs is the use of starters as relievers.  Since the legitimate starters only pitch for two innings, All Star pitchers must warm up in the bullpen to make their appearances.  For a pitcher like Strasburg, who would have every Washington executive wincing after each pitch, warming up in the ‘pen and then going onto the field is very different from starting the game.  Relievers get used to it; starters become unraveled by it.

HOME RUN DERBY:  The Home Run Derby rivals the actual game in popularity, as it features the one thing fans want to see more than anything: home runs.  But for some players, participation in the derby could mean problems with their swing and a second-half decline in power numbers.  Alex Rodriguez famously backed out of the derby held at Yankee Stadium two years ago, fearing the effects it might have on his stroke.  Brandon Inge participated last year, and after failing to hit a single homer during the event, has hit just 12 in his career since.

Stretched Thin: Bullpen Woes Starting to Seap Through

Everyone talked about the rotation.  No ace, no dependable starter to get a win every fifth day.  Somebody to look at the lineup of the Phillies and not quiver with fear.  But everybody forgot about the bullpen.  The Dodgers’ supposed saving grace last season, with two All Star closers in Jonathan Broxton and George Sherrill to anchor Hong-Chih Kuo, Ronald Belisario, and Ramon Troncoso.

But the bullpen has been in tatters.  Broxton has been pushed to the brink, pitching in 13 different games without rest.  Troncoso has faced more batters than the recently DFA’d Charlie Haeger.  That overuse has not translated into effective pitching.  Troncoso has surrendered 15 inherited runs so far this season out of 24 inherited runners.  Broxton has an opposing OPS of .626 when pitching on zero days of rest, compared to his season average of .565.  Five of the eight runs he has given up this season have come on days without rest.

Of course, nothing is as startling as the rapid decline of George Sherrill.   The former Baltimore closer had an ERA of .65 last year with the Dodgers.  In all but two of his 32 appearances did he surrender an earned run.  But 2010 has been a very different year for Sherrill.  In nine of his 30 appearances this season Sherrill has given up at least a run; five of those nine times it has been multiple runs.  His leash has also been much shorter; Sherrill has 20 appearances in which he does not record three outs.  He has seen his role been reduced from set-up man and spot-closer to situational lefty.  His woes forced the team to put him on the disable list at one point, hoping he could solve his problems without taking innings away from the major league club.

To continually turn to Broxton or Troncoso at every sign of danger, like the last two games against the Yankees which were non-save situations, the key cogs of the ‘pen will gain more and more wear as the season progresses.  The team either needs to add another reliever, be it through trade or dropping a bench player like Garret Anderson, use men like Jeff Weaver or Justin Miller much more loosely, or face the consequences.

UCLA Baseball: Bruins Make Third College World Series In Their History

Thirteen years is a long time.

And it was evident that the ghost of the late great John Wooden was in their corner this weekend, as UCLA’s baseball team won a spot in the College World Series for the first time since 1997 by beating Cal State Fullerton 8-1 at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Sunday night, in the third game of a best-of-3 NCAA Super Regional.

After the Bruins were one out away from being eliminated before defeating the Titans in 10 innings on Saturday, 11-7, Rob Rassmussen threw his first complete game as a Bruin on Sunday to clinch the team’s ticket to Omaha, as he struck out nine CSUF batters while giving up just two hits in winning his 11th game of the year.

UCLA’s bats came through as well, with the Bruins (48-14) scoring three runs in the third inning to take a lead they will not relinquish, and Beau Amaral getting three RBIs on the night, two of them on a home run in the eighth inning that put the final nail in Cal State Fullerton’s (46-18) coffin. 

The win certainly exorcised some Titan demons, CSUF having beaten UCLA 19 times in their 24 previous meetings since John Savage became the coach in Westwood in 2005. “…we needed to do this as a program”, he said. 

This World Series berth will be only the third one in Bruin history, the first one coming in 1969 with Chris Chambliss, who would go on to stardom with the Reggie Jackson / Billy Martin “Bronx Zoo” New York Yankees of the 1970s, leading UCLA that year.

Though they have never won a game in Omaha, having an all-time record of 0-4 there, the Bruins, who will start the Series with Florida either this Saturday or Sunday, have a chance to make some noise for one important reason: Pitching. 

It has been pitching, particularly the starting staff of Rassmussen, Garrett Claypool, Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer that has carried UCLA all season, and since good pitching beats good hitting and is the key to any team, I do not expect the Bruins to go home winless this time around.

It goes without saying that regardless of what happens in Omaha, this has been a dream season in Westwood – the question now is will the Bruins triumph at Rosenblatt Stadium and bring home the school’s 107th national championship (and the baseball program’s first)?

Time will tell, but I think they have a shot.

USC Running Back Dillon Baxter Claims Illegal Contact By Schools

Well, that certainly didn’t take long.

Only a day after the NCAA lowered the boom on USC, the vultures are attempting to circle the carcass.

ESPN’s Joe Schad is reporting that USC mega-recruit, running back Dillon Baxter, has notified the Trojans’ compliance office that five schools have illegally contacted him, apparently attempting to woo him to their programs.

Alabama, Florida, Fresno State, Oregon, and Washington are the teams identified as making overtures to Baxter, the 2009 five-star (as rated by Scout.com) quarterback/running back who set a California state record by scoring an eye-popping 79 touchdowns, including 50 on the ground.

Baxter, whose spring practice with the Trojans routinely featured spectacular runs that were celebrated far and wide on “Youtube,” is generally considered a “can’t miss” prospect by most who see him, so it’s not surprising that he would be coveted by other programs.

What is surprising, or perhaps I am gullible, is that so many programs who should know better took a shot at contacting a student-athlete whom they had no chance of getting.

Before I go any further, it should be noted that this is a preliminary report and when everything comes out, perhaps this contact was not illegal at all.

If so, then the question becomes one of decorum.

Is there a “waiting period” before another college football program attempts to steal from a weakened foe?

Can one call Dear Abby to see if any college gridiron etiquette has been violated?

For the five programs identified by Baxter, apparently that grace period lasted all of 24 hours.

If that.

In a sad commentary on the state of college athletic ethics, USC hadn’t even yet picked itself off the floor after the NCAA hay-maker before opposing programs began to swoop in hoping to pick clean the Trojans of a high profile prospect.

To Dillon Baxter’s credit, it appears that he wasn’t having any of that, and by reporting these programs to his compliance office, Baxter said in no uncertain terms that he plans on remaining a Trojan.

Take that you blood suckers.

Before any other programs start looking to speed dial Seantrel Henderson, Robert Woods, or any of the other highly regarded incoming USC freshmen trying to sweet talk them into a back door transfer, they may want to revisit what happened with Dillon Baxter.

It may save them the embarrassment of what at worst could be illegal contact and at best an emphatic “no” from the player in question.

Where this goes from here is anyone’s guess but it seems as though there is a bit of karma at play here, especially if this contact was indeed illegal.

And while it won’t soothe the open wounds of a reeling USC football program, maybe it will give them something else to think about for awhile.

Lord knows they could use that right about now.

What Divorce? Dodgers Draft LSU Football Commit with First-Round Pick

The Dodgers have had success recently with their first-round draft picks.  James Loney, Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw.  They know what they’re doing.  Which is why there is no doubt that the Dodgers intend to bypass this year’s draft by selecting Zach Lee, a RHP from McKinney, Texas.  Why, do you ask, is selecting Lee an automatic forfeiture of a pick? Because Lee is also one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country who has a commitment to LSU.  The MLB.com analysis of Lee:

Summary: With above-average to plus stuff across the board — fastball, slider, changeup — good command and tremendous athleticsm, Lee should be one of the high school arms being mentioned up close to the top of the Draft, or at least on a short list of top high school arms. If he’s not, it’s largely because of one thing: signability. As a quarterback recruit, he’s committed to play two sports at LSU next year, and many think he’s unsignable as a result. That said, there’s bound to be a team with deep pockets that will take a shot at luring him away from the gridiron and life as a collegiate athlete.

Any team drafting Lee would need to scrap together a lot of money to convince Lee of choosing baseball, and that’s a lot more than what any team would like to spend.  The Dodgers certainly don’t want to spend that, and rather than taking someone likely to sign, or at least someone of top potential, they chose to prevent any possible chance of paying for a prime pick.  At least they will get two picks next year.

Remembering Coach John Wooden

I once heard an old African proverb that says whenever an elderly person dies, a library burns down.

If such is the case, then at least five libraries were torched this past Friday, because we lost a man who was not only the greatest coach in the history of sports, but one of the greatest all around human beings ever, a person whose life and influence transcends athletics.

John Robert Wooden, first and foremost, was a teacher – I believe he preferred to describe himself that way.

I won’t go on about his 620 wins and ten national championships in 12 years, including seven in a row from 1967-1973, during a 27-year tenure as coach of the UCLA basketball team. Nor will I go into detail about his iconic Pyramid of Success, a Ten Commandments for the 20th century that tells people how best to live life and conduct oneself, or the various maxims that he espoused such as…

“Be quick, but don’t hurry.”

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

“It’s what you know AFTER you know everything that counts.” 

“Make each day your masterpiece.”

I’ll leave those statistics and other obvious things for those who will inevitably review all that stuff for the newspapers, sports channels, and the internet.

Coach Wooden’s – I prefer to call him Mr. Wooden because he was much more than a coach to me – impact on UCLA was a very simple one: He put it on the map.

Before he arrived from Indiana State in 1948 to coach the basketball version of the Bruins, the University of California at Los Angeles was a nice, sleepy little college in a quaint, sleepy little community called Westwood, considered on the outskirts of L.A.

Although they had a few successes in football, including a Rose Bowl appearance in 1943, people thought of UCLA as a commuter school, a twiggy little brother off the U.C. Berkeley tree that was a shadow dweller to well-established crosstown rival USC.

By the time Mr. Wooden retired as the Bruins’ coach after winning his tenth NCAA title in 1975, UCLA was no longer anyone’s twig or in anybody’s shadow.

That quaint little brother of Berkeley had become one of America’s elite institutions of higher learning, am place that would eventually claim more national championships than anyone else and become the nation’s most popular university, with more students applying there than any other school.

And on top of everything else, Mr. Wooden’s success led to the building of the legendary Pauley Pavilion. Just as Yankee Stadium was “The House That Ruth Built”, that on-campus icon was “The House That Wooden Built”.

I had the extreme personal privilege of meeting the man when I was a student at UCLA and played the saxophone in the Bruin Varsity Band at the basketball games in the late 1980s. Mr. Wooden regularly attended the contests; he would always sit just across from me and the band.

Needless to say, it was a thrill just being thirty feet from him, but I felt that I just had to meet the coaching legend. That chance came after a game just before Christmas of 1989.

Wearing my blue mock-turtleneck band shirt and with the game program I hand, I walked up to where he was sitting, my knees virtually knocking like crazy, and said while shaking like the proverbial leaf, “Excuse me Mr. Wooden, sir, may I have your autograph?”

The man had a reputation as being very generous with fans, and he did not disappoint with me. Right there under the championship banners that his teams put up, not only did he sign my program “Merry Christmas, John Wooden”, he also shook my hand and gave me a warm smile. To say that it was quite the thrill would be an understatement of the highest order.

To this day I still have that game program, as well as a book written by Mr. Wooden that he signed for me a year or two ago; to sell those mementos on Ebay or to give them away will always be completely unthinkable. How could I possibly dare to do that to the greatest coach that ever lived?

For practically all of my adult life, I have tried to follow the tenets of the great coach’s Pyramid of Success. I’ve done okay in applying some of those tenets to my own life, but have failed miserably in others, which continues to disappoint me because I feel that I have let Mr. Wooden down, as well as the rest of the UCLA community.

I still have copies of that pyramid on my bedroom walls, as a reminder to always strive to achieve the standards that he set when he first started the pyramid as a high school teacher and coach in Kentucky and his native Indiana in 1934.

It goes without saying that the whole world, in and out of sports, will dearly miss this coaching and teaching legend.

Like Elton John when he sang about being in the 22nd row in his ode to Marilyn Monroe, “Candle in the Wind”, I’m just a guy in the 222nd row when it comes to John Wooden, but I will forever that man just as much as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and the countless others whose lives have been touch so greatly by him.

Mr. Wooden has often said that he did not fear death because he would be with his beloved wife Nell, who passed away in 1985.

Since that’s the case, I’m sure that he is happy wherever he is, because he’s with her now.

And I’m more than positive that this inspirational teacher, coach, and human being will rest in peace.

“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”  – John Wooden  (1910-2010)

UCLA: Baseball Begins Post Season at Home, Softball in College World Series

The national pastime has been good to Westwood this year.

After a season in which they tallied their highest number of wins in over forty years and was ranked in the top 15 for the entire campaign, including achieving the #1 spot in early April, UCLA’s baseball team will begin their quest for the College World Series in Omaha this Friday as they host a regional for the first time since 1986.

Pundits have stated that the sixth-ranked Bruins (43-13) have the toughest bracket, as Mid-American Conference Champion Kent State, Big West power UC Irvine and LSU, who’s merely the defending national champion, come to Jackie Robinson Stadium for this double elimination regional to try and earn the right to go to the best-of-3 Super Regionals later on this month.

UCLA will begin with Kent State’s Golden Flashes this Friday night, after UC Irvine’s Anteaters and LSU’s Tigers do battle. With Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer, Rob Rasmussen and Garret Claypool all having outstanding seasons on the mound, Coach John Savage’s Bruins have as good a chance as anyone to make it to the Super Regionals and hopefully the ultimate prize, Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium – it would be their first trip there since 1997, and only their third appearance in Omaha overall.

Former major league manager Gene Mauch once said that if you don’t have good pitching, you don’t have a good team. Since UCLA has  had an abundance of good hurlers this season, success in this first step of the post season is not out of the question in the slightest – if the hitters, led by Dean Espy, come through, the Bruins will be in very good shape.

While the baseball version of the Bruins is trying to get to their College World Series, their softball counterparts are already heading to theirs.

After smacking around  and effectively owning Louisiana Lafayette with a combined score of 20-3 over two games, invoking the mercy rule in both contests, UCLA’s softball team (45-11) will be in Oklahoma City as they are playing  in the eight-team, double elimination Women’s College World Series this weekend.

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez’s ladies, ranked #5, will take on Florida in their first contest this Thursday afternoon as they go for their 12th national championship and first since 2004.

The Bruin bats were absolutely on fire against Louisiana Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns in the Super Regionals, which they hosted at UCLA, as home runs were flying out of Easton Stadium. ULL was no match for the Bruins as they lost by scores of 10-1 and 10-2,  with both games going five innings.

As college softball has achieved great parity in recent years, including having the top two ranked teams, Alabama and Michigan, lose in their super regionals, the field is wide open this year. Any one of those eight teams in Oklahoma City, which includes Georgia, Tennessee, perennial power Arizona and defending champion Washington, can take home the trophy.

With that being the case, UCLA, led by national player of the year finalist Megan Lagenfeld, will have to step up, play their best softball, and in the words of the immortal John Wooden, “Be at your best when your best is needed”, as they go for the school’s 106th NCAA title and join the women’s gymnastics team among this year’s national champions in Westwood.

They way the UCLA softballers have played as of late, a championship is more than attainable – we’ll see how it goes.

Laying the Foundation: USC Football Recruiting (Why The Delay Lane?)

Before going any further, it should be noted with abundant emphasis that Lane Kiffin, Ed Orgeron and the entire USC recruiting staff have done a marvelous job of swaying excellent prep talent to verbally commit to the Trojans.

USC already has six pledges from highly regarded prep players including the star of the six, cornerback/running back DeAnthony Thomas.

With this kind of head start on the 2010 prep recruiting season, the class that Kiffin is putting together stands a chance to be truly special.

So please don’t construe this piece as any kind of indictment of coach Kiffin or the Trojan recruiting brain trust.

Having said that, there are still a couple of omissions to what is the beginning of a brilliant prep recruiting class for the Trojans.

For example, one player who is very highly regarded and who seems a natural fit for the Trojans is Ian Seau.

Young Seau, whose uncle is the legendary former Trojan Junior Seau, is a 6′4,” 245 pound monster of a defensive end who is ranked a four-star player by Scout.com.

Seau has the body and motor that will make him a future star and he lists the Trojans, of course, as “high” on his interest list.

Yet Ian Seau still awaits a scholarship offer from the Trojans.

Why the delay, Lane?

Meanwhile, another defensive end is just begging for an offer, and like Ian Seau, he is also a four-star prep athlete.

Todd Barr, who hails from Lakewood high school in Southern California, and who was a teammate of highly regarded 2009 USC quarterback recruit Jesse Scroggins, also has the Trojans “high” on his interest list.

All Todd Barr did last year was record 32 tackles for loss, 12 sacks and forced five fumbles.

And yet, even with close to two dozen scholarship offers in his pocket, Barr pines for one from his dream school, USC.

Why the delay, Lane?

Finally, with the Trojans in desperate need of linebackers, even with the recent commitment of Tre Madden, there is a fast riser, who, like Ian Seau and Todd Barr, has much love for the Trojans and awaits an offer from USC.

Jalen Jefferson, an outside linebacker who has the body (6′3″) to add more bulk to his current 205 pounds, has the kind of motor that coaches love.

Like Barr and Seau, Jefferson also lists the Trojans as “high” on his list of potential suitors.

And with the Trojans needing linebackers, the questions begs to be answered…

Why the delay, Lane?

However, this doesn’t mean that the Trojans are inactive on the recruiting trail.

Four more offers have been extended to some outstanding prep players and half of them reside here in the southland.

Lets take a look at these four potential future Trojans:

Stephan Nembot

This fast rising offensive tackle/defensive end from Van Nuys, Ca. is your prototypical “diamond in the rough.”

With a body (6′8″) that is just begging for more than the 245 pounds that he currently bears, Nembot is opening eyes throughout the recruiting world.

Now holding scholarship offers from the majority of Pac-10 schools, Nembot lists them all as “medium” in terms of his interest.

Bobby Hart

Hart, who hails from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., has what the Trojans covet, and that is size.

Standing 6′5″ and weighing 295 lbs., Hart is a prototypical offensive lineman.

Though not fleet of foot (5.6 forty), Hart nonetheless has great drive and power and if utilized at the guard position, won’t be counted on for down field blocking anyway.

Hart, who is ranked a four-star player by Scout.com, has USC, like all others, rated as “medium” on his interest list.

Devon Moreland

The next two players that are being profiled, unfortunately for Trojan fans, appear to be heading to their crosstown rivals UCLA.

Devon Moreland, a fast rising player at a position of need, linebacker, is 6′3″, 215 lbs. and has a ton of potential.

Though coveted by many programs, Moreland, as suggested, lists UCLA as “high” on his interest list.

Paulay Asiata

Asiata, who hails from Hawaii, also would fit a need of the Trojans, namely offensive tackle, has great size (6′5″, 295 lbs.) and the power to be a dominating “big ugly” in the trenches.

However, Asiata also appears to be headed to UCLA who he lists as “high” on his dance card.

There you have it.

Some questions, some offers, and a whole bunch of me trying not to sound like I am questioning coach Kiffin and company, whose recruiting prowess I stand in awe of.

Nonetheless, I hope that the Trojans don’t wait too much longer to pull the trigger on offers to Seau, Barr, and Jefferson.

It would be a damn shame to lose any of those guys to another program who extended an offer that came with the ability to sway the player in question to their way of thinking.

Of course, there may be promises of offers that this humble reporter isn’t aware of.

For the Trojans’ sake, there better damn well be.