And we’re off and running early!

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**No Isaiah Rubin yet ...

LOS ANGELES—Nineteen high school football players have signed with USC so far during the December early signing period, Trojan head coach Lincoln Riley announced.

The 2024 signees are, alphabetically: DL Jide Abasiri, S Jarvis Boatwright Jr., CB Braylon Conley, DE Lorenzo Cowan, DE Kameryn Fountain, S Marquis Gallegos, RB Bryan Jackson, DL Carlon Jones, WR Xavier Jordan, TE Walter Matthews, LB Elijah Newby, TE Joey Olsen, OL Makai Saina, LB Desman Stephens II, OL Kalolo Ta'aga, OL Justin Tauanuu, OL Hayden Treter, CB Marcelles Williams and OL Jason Zandamela. Additionally, TE Walker Lyons, who signed last winter and is currently serving his Mormon mission in Norway, will join this recruiting class.

Abasiri, Boatwright Jr., Cowan, Fountain, Gallegos, Jackson, Jordan, Newby, Olsen, Stephens II, Ta'aga, Tauanuu, Williams and Zandamela will enroll at USC in January and participate in 2024 spring practice. The other five signees in addition to Lyons will join the Trojan program in the fall.

Among the 19 players added during the early signing period are:

• Sixteen signees are four-star athletes by at least one of the following: 247Sports, 247Composite, On3, On3 Consensus, Rivals.com and/or ESPN.com
• Seven newcomers that were ranked in the ESPN300: Kameryn Fountain, Xavier Jordan, Walter Matthews, Elijah Newby, Joey Olsen, Marcelles Williams and Jason Zandamela
• Seven players in the Top247: Kameryn Fountain, Carlon Jones, Xavier Jordan, Walter Matthews, Elijah Newby, Marcelles Williams and Jason Zandamela
• Three players who were listed in the Rivals250: Xavier Jordan, Marcelles Williams and Jason Zandamela
• Four Under Armour All-Americans: Kameryn Fountain, Xavier Jordan, Makai Saina and Jason Zandamela
• Four Polynesian Bowl All-Stars: Xavier Jordan, Makai Saina, Justin Tauanuu and Marcelles Williams
• Three All-American Bowl invitees: Kameryn Fountain, Xavier Jordan and Marcelles Williams
• One U.S. Army All-American Bowl invitee: Desman Stephens II

Additional players could join USC between now and the next signing day in February.

There is no way we are not already spending a shit ton on our roster already. How much could Zachariah get tomorrow if he steps into the portal? I have no clue where the market is at but it has to be a significant amount.

We desperately need regulation in this system.

Also, how the F could we be out spent by the likes of Oregon? USC is not Harvard, Stanford or Penn, but shit we are in the top 10 of wealthy alumni and higher than m'fing Yale!!! We should be blowing all these fools out of the water in the portal. SC needs to get its NIL sh!t together.

U.S. oil production discredits weird Republican talking points​

Oil production in the United States has reached an all-time high. So why do Republicans keep telling American voters to believe the opposite?


Oct. 16, 2023, 11:45 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

On Thursday morning, Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin published a message to social media, urging President Joe Biden to “reverse course on his anti-American energy agenda and unleash domestic production to bring down prices and create market stability for the United States and our allies.”

I’m not in a position to know whether the Oklahoman actually believed his own rhetoric, but I do know that the senator’s timing was awful. The same morning in which Mullin condemned the administration’s “anti-American energy agenda” and implored the White House to “unleash domestic production,” the public learned that domestic oil production in the United States reached an all-time high. The Associated Press reported:

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels. Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.

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The newly set record, the AP report added, “conflicts with oft-repeated Republican talking points of a Biden ‘war on American energy.’”

Yes. Yes, it does.

To be sure, whether one sees these developments as good news or bad news is a matter of perspective. There is, of course, a planetary climate crisis underway, creating an urgent need to cut carbon emissions. To prevent intensifying catastrophes, we’ll need to burn fewer fossil fuels, not more.

That conversation, however, is muddled to a ridiculous degree, not only by those who reject and deny climate science, but also by Republicans who keep telling the public that the Biden administration is dramatically scaling back production, even as production reaches record highs.

In August, at the first presidential primary debate for the GOP’s 2024 field, multiple candidates talked up the idea of “unlocking American energy,” as if production had been curtailed. Reality pointed in the opposite direction.

A few days later, Politico published a report with a memorable headline: “The U.S. is pumping oil faster than ever.

Republicans don’t care.” In context, it wasn’t that Republicans were indifferent to increased energy production; it’s that Republicans don’t care that their rhetoric is false.

They want to tell voters that the United States isn’t churning out record amounts of oil, reality be damned, and the GOP isn’t about to be dissuaded by facts.

The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell added in a column two weeks ago:

If “energy independence” means exporting more than you import, we’ve achieved it in spades. The United States has been exporting more crude oil and petroleum products than it imports for 22 straight months now, far longer than was the case under Trump. If this is what waging war on fossil fuels looks like, Democrats apparently aren’t very good at it.

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I won’t speculate as to why Republicans keep pushing brazenly untrue claims about energy policy, but there is no doubt that their talking points on the issue bear no resemblance to reality.


Steve Benen

I don't know how involved this is but there have been conversations between USC and Lagway's people. It's something to watch heading into tomorrow but there's been nothing official as to a flip or any serious level of that yet.

Once I hear more, I'll be back but Lagway's side isn't talking right now.

If this is true I'm going to blow my top. FUUUUUCK! I'm just speculating I have no inside info or anything like that. I hope it's not true

We are in the midst of one of the most radical revolutions in American history. It is as far-reaching and dangerous as the turbulent years of the 1850s and 1860s or the 1930s. Every aspect of American life and culture is under assault, including the very processes by which we govern ourselves, and the manner in which we live.

The Revolution began under the Obama administration that sought to divide Americans into oppressed and oppressors, and then substitute race for class victimization. It was empowered by the bicoastal wealth accrued from globalization, and honed during the COVID lockdown, quarantine-fed economic downturn, and the George Floyd riots and their aftermath. The Revolution was boosted by fanatic opposition to the presidency of Donald Trump. And the result is an America that is unrecognizable from what it was a mere decade ago.

Here are 10 upheavals that the Left has successfully wrought. ⬇️​

We see all this movement but it might be tough to imagine, at least for me, what we need. Please give me your thoughts on what we need at this point. Here are my thoughts:

1. Another quarterback for the room.

2. A big OL who can pass block

3. A big DL who can compliment Bear.

4. A RB to add to the room

5. A kicker

6. A safety

Personally I’ve been waiting for this for a while. After today (or at least this week), we can finally stop talking about him. Thanks for the INT, Korey. Best of luck.

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For all you old rockers who loved the Mighty Met (KMET).

"He narrowed it down to Georgia, Bama and LSU," Dan said.

"If you want to go play against the best corners every week in practice and be protected by the best offensive linemen on Saturdays, those are three spots where you go."

From what I've heard, 2024 four-star QB DJ Lagway's decision -- he announces today at 1:30 CT -- came down to Florida and USC. Expectation remains that it'll be the Gators but it's not confirmed 100 pct.

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But we have no such luck with Nelson. Are we really that uncompetitive????

Your thoughts and thank you to @jerrybed for bringing this to my attention.

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Hearing rumblings. Hope that's not true. Not at practice.

n/m

Is terrible!! My Gawd!! This has to be the most disappointing year combined for both football and basketball ever!! I had high expectations for both and they are complete underachievers!

Welcome

Are we going to be able to field a team for the bowl game? Do we have enough DBs?

Bit of a head scratcher.. guess folks didn't see his value as a RB.

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Didn't see that coming. Going to have to get some kind waiver to play next year I imagine.

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