I did a quick look at the USC upcoming opponent player losses a few months ago. The NFL draft allows a closer look at the level of the talent lost. No better evaluation than a group of professionals doing the selection.
I was away during the draft so some of this may be belated but still interesting. Here are some general notes first: Who thought that Cody Kessler would be the 4th QB taken and before 6 other well regarded QBs? It has to be the Hue Jackson (New Cleveland head Coach) connection to USC . And as expected both Norte Dame and Alabama lost a bunch... 7 players drafted from Alabama and 7 from Notre Dame. But Surprise only 5 taken from Stanford and more surprising 8 were taken from UCLA , the most of any USC opponent next year. Hmmm...doesn't that speak volumes considering where UCLA ended up in the PAC-12? But there were a few injuries.
Some of the surprises...Utah's RB Devontae Booker went in round 4 (too small?), Arizona's ILB Scobey Wright went in the 7th round (apparently convincing no one that he recovered from his injury).
Here is how it breaks down per non conference team in order of those played by USC.
Alabama (N): Rd 1: OC Ryan Kelly. Rd 2: ILB Reggie Ragland and RB Derrick Henry and DT A'Shawn Robinson and DT Jarran Reed and CB Cyrus Jones. Rd 3: RB Kenyan Drake. They dominated Rd 2 and all 7 picks were in Rounds 1-3. Notable Undrafted: QB Jake Coker, ILB Denzel Devall, SS Geno Matias-Smith. Yeah, they will reload at some point, but that's a lot of talent lost. Getting them early is key.
Utah State: Draftees: Rd 3: ILB Nick Vigil and OLB Kyler Fackrell drafted back to back. Notable Undrafted: QB Chuckie Keeton and WR Hunter Sharp. Losing QB Keeton (what happened to him!) and line backing hurts most.
Notre Dame: Rd 1: OT Ronnie Stanley and WR Will Fuller. Rd 2: OLB Jaylon Smith and OC Nick Martin. Rd 3: CB KeiVarae Russell and RB/WR C J Prosise. Rd 4: DT Sheldon Day. 6 of 7 picks were in Rounds 1-3. Notable Undrafted: WR Chris Brown, DE Romeo Okwara and SS Elijah Shumate. That's also a lot of talent lost.
Conference losses evaluation to follow.
I was away during the draft so some of this may be belated but still interesting. Here are some general notes first: Who thought that Cody Kessler would be the 4th QB taken and before 6 other well regarded QBs? It has to be the Hue Jackson (New Cleveland head Coach) connection to USC . And as expected both Norte Dame and Alabama lost a bunch... 7 players drafted from Alabama and 7 from Notre Dame. But Surprise only 5 taken from Stanford and more surprising 8 were taken from UCLA , the most of any USC opponent next year. Hmmm...doesn't that speak volumes considering where UCLA ended up in the PAC-12? But there were a few injuries.
Some of the surprises...Utah's RB Devontae Booker went in round 4 (too small?), Arizona's ILB Scobey Wright went in the 7th round (apparently convincing no one that he recovered from his injury).
Here is how it breaks down per non conference team in order of those played by USC.
Alabama (N): Rd 1: OC Ryan Kelly. Rd 2: ILB Reggie Ragland and RB Derrick Henry and DT A'Shawn Robinson and DT Jarran Reed and CB Cyrus Jones. Rd 3: RB Kenyan Drake. They dominated Rd 2 and all 7 picks were in Rounds 1-3. Notable Undrafted: QB Jake Coker, ILB Denzel Devall, SS Geno Matias-Smith. Yeah, they will reload at some point, but that's a lot of talent lost. Getting them early is key.
Utah State: Draftees: Rd 3: ILB Nick Vigil and OLB Kyler Fackrell drafted back to back. Notable Undrafted: QB Chuckie Keeton and WR Hunter Sharp. Losing QB Keeton (what happened to him!) and line backing hurts most.
Notre Dame: Rd 1: OT Ronnie Stanley and WR Will Fuller. Rd 2: OLB Jaylon Smith and OC Nick Martin. Rd 3: CB KeiVarae Russell and RB/WR C J Prosise. Rd 4: DT Sheldon Day. 6 of 7 picks were in Rounds 1-3. Notable Undrafted: WR Chris Brown, DE Romeo Okwara and SS Elijah Shumate. That's also a lot of talent lost.
Conference losses evaluation to follow.
