Priceless: Lane Kiffin describes the USC pursuit of Penn St RB Silas Redd

interesting peek into the day of a college football coach

fyi: RB Silas Redd, who recently transferred to USC, rushed for 1241 yards last season (5.1 ypc) at Penn St -- an average of 95.5 yards per game over 13 games. as a recruit, he was rated the #3/#4/#7 RB in the nation (#44 on the Rivals100, #47 on the 247 top 100)

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http://coachingsearch.com/home/974-priceless-lane-kiffin-describes-the-sc-pursuit-of-silas-redd.html


On Wednesday, Lane Kiffin explained in detail to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio the SC pursuit of Penn State running back Silas Redd.

Here's how it went down, according to Lane.

"I picked up the phone, in true SC fashion and called one of our great donors Ted Jones at Fletcher Jones Mercedes and I called him when we were at the SoHo House for the PAC-12 dinner and he said, 'Let me guess, you're calling about Silas. Where y'at?'"

"So he sent his big ole Mercedes jet which was in Vegas to pick us up in LA. We got done with the PAC-12 meetings. We flew to White Plains, NY [Silas lives nearby in Connecticut]. It was myself, my dad, our running backs coach, our o-line coach."

"We called Coach Orgeron. He was in Louisiana. He got on a plane. Our defensive backs coach was in Nebraska. He got on a plane. The only two we couldn't get were our quarterbacks coach (Clay Helton). He was in Mexico because everybody was on vacation. Our receivers coach (Tee Martin) was on a cruise, so we tried to get a helicopter to go get him, but they wouldn't let us do it."

"We're in Norwalk, CT, up near you guys (Norwalk, CT is where Silas lives). We met at a Dunkin Donuts. Got our game plan, went into the house for a 3.5 hour presentation and flew back."

 

So what am I missing here? It's hard to criticize someone for working, isn't it? Seriously. The guy who doesn't do enough is the one I have issue with. If LSU's staff went on an all out blitz for a prospect, would any of us take issue?

 

Agreed. But I would like to know what their recruiting budget looks like.

 

All that luxury and expense on the coaches....and all the kid gets is Dunkin Donuts. That's about as insulting as meeting a Black athlete at "The Cornbread House".

 

how do you conclude the author of the article is criticizing Kiffin? his comments all praised him: "You want to talk about jumping on an opportunity and going after something hard? ... When you send six coaches cross country, its impact is undeniable. The fact is, the no-hesitation approach may be the difference in SC winning the PAC-12 and playing for the national championship."

indeed, with the addition of Silas at RB, the Scout.com/College Football News 2012 football preview is now calling USC's offense "unstoppable" and "virtually impossible to shut down." before adding Silas, USC only had one proven RB in Curtis McNeal, and although he rushed for over 1,000 yards last year like Silas did, he's only a 5-7, 182 lb scat-back (with blistering 4.3 to 4.4 forty speed)

but yeah, 6 USC coaches visiting a key recruit isn't surprising to me. Remember a couple years ago Chizik was riding around in that Auburn Humvee to impress recruits. I wonder what the record is for most coaches from one school going to all visit a recruit's home at the same time?

USC sent 6 of 13 coaches to Silas' house, but Kiffin wanted to send at least 8 of 13...

on the Mercedes-dealership-owner' private jet from Los Angeles: "It was myself, my dad, our running backs coach, our o-line coach."
1. Lane Kiffin - Head Coach
2. Monte Kiffin - Assistant Head Coach
3. Kennedy Polamalu - Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Coach
4. James Cregg - Offensive Line Coach

"We called Coach Orgeron. He was in Louisiana. He got on a plane."
5. Ed Orgeron - Defensive and Recruiting Coordinator/Defensive Line

"Our defensive backs coach was in Nebraska. He got on a plane."
6. Marvin Sanders - Secondary Coach

they wanted two more, but couldn't get them because one was in Mexico, and the other on a cruise:
--Clay Helton - Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
--Tee Martin - Wide Receivers Coach

no mention is made of trying to get any of the following 5 coaches there:
--Shawn Howe - Defensive Line Coach
--Scottie Hazelton - Linebackers Coach
--Justin Mesa - Tight Ends Coach
--John Baxter - Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator
--Aaron Ausmus - Strength and Conditioning Coach

 

That was a long post. In the middle of it I had to go to the bathroom and dump a Kiffen.

 

I hope you remembered to wipe your Orgeron!!

 

1/ His title. "Priceless" is most often used tongue-in-cheek. 2/ It being posted on an LSU forum

 

I hate to admit it, but Kiffen is doing a great job out there.

I hope we play them in the BCSNC...and beat that Lame a$$