Safety Tray Matthews seems ready to become a key contributor for Georgia’s defense. (Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports)

By Zac Ellis

While many top recruits wait until late in the summer to arrive on campus each year, the practice of enrolling early is becoming more and more popular across college football. By adapting to school and taking part in spring practice, incoming freshmen and juco transfers are able start learning a system  — and working their way up the depth chart.

According to a USA Today report, 162 high school prospects in BCS automatic-qualifying conferences opted to enroll early in 2013, the highest total since 2002. In all, 61 of the 73 AQ-conference schools brought in at least one early enrollee.

Skipping senior prom in lieu of helmets and pads can have its advantages. Here are 10 early enrollees, listed alphabetically, who raised eyebrows across the nation:

Read More…

By Holly Anderson

The end of spring ball means the commencement of rubber chicken circuits for coaches around the country, which itself means promo videos for the same. Even if your coach doesn’t do the local ad game, he stands a pretty solid chance of being trotted in front of school cameras and handed an elaborately casual script:

SI.com staffers screened the above USC effort in the safety of our offices, and the reviews are in:

Read More…

Touted linebacker Matthew Thomas has asked for a release from his FSU scholarship. (Steve Mitchell/USA Today Sports)

By Zac Ellis

One of Florida State’s most prized recruits in the class of 2013 might never set foot on campus. Five-star linebacker Matthew Thomas has asked Seminoles coaches for a release from his scholarship, the Miami Herald reports.

The nation’s No. 2 linebacker according to Rivals.com, Thomas told the Herald he informed Florida State coaches that he doesn’t plan to report to campus in the fall. Thomas said he wasn’t fully committed to signing with the Seminoles when originally announced his decision in February.

“I’ve told them it’s nothing personal. I just didn’t make the decision I really wanted to on Signing Day,” said Thomas, who picked the Seminoles over USC, Georgia and Miami.

“What happened was on Signing Day I wasn’t sure who I wanted to sign with. I had issues with different schools. But when I told my mom I didn’t want to sign with anybody and wait and give it a few days she said I couldn’t do that. She said, ‘FSU is a good school –- pick them. It’s close to home.’ I wasn’t agreeing with it. But I felt like I was being disrespectful to her if I didn’t sign. So I made her happy.”

Read More…

After a strong spring, Jameis Winston (5) seems set to be FSU’s quarterback of the future. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

The official start of the college football season may still be more than three months away, but the first glimpses of each team come every year during spring practice. Spring isn’t always an accurate barometer for what to expect in the fall, but there were still a handful of noteworthy developments over the last two months nonetheless. A redshirt freshman quarterback raised a few eyebrows with his play in Tallahassee. A couple of new coaches kicked off their debut campaigns in the SEC. And off the field, the long-awaited College Football Playoff finally started to take shape.

Here are 10 lessons we learned from spring football across the country:

Read More…

Matt Barkley, Lane Kiffin and the USC Trojans suffered through a painful season in 2012. (Bill Kostroun/AP)

By Zac Ellis

Matt Barkley’s senior season at USC didn’t exactly go as planned. And coach Lane Kiffin could be a big reason for that — at least, according to Barkley.

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports’ Michael Silver, Barkley reflected on his senior season in 2012, when the preseason No. 1 Trojans stumbled mightily in the shadow of high expectations and limped to a 7-6 record after a 6-1 start. But Barkley alluded to internal issues that might have soured the atmosphere within the program, saying he wishes he’d been more vocal as a leader in the locker room.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it long and hard,” Barkley said. “I learned how to handle adversity last season, and maybe I could have done a few things differently. I could’ve had a bigger voice, given more input and taken it to the next level — pretty much as the owner of the company might … not just letting things happen.”

“You put faith in your coaches, but when you see trends, things not happening the right way, and when the team rests on your shoulders, it’s almost like you have to step up. You can’t just let these things go by and watch them disintegrate in front of you. You’ve got to put the glue in somewhere. Looking back, I wish I’d been more forceful.”

Though Barkley never mentioned Kiffin by name, the implication of “trends, things not happening the right way” seems to point to a leadership problem. Barkley said the ups and downs of last season took a toll as the year progressed.

Read More…

Matt Barkley threw 36 touchdowns and 15 interceptions during his 2012 season at USC. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

It’s no secret that former USC quarterback Matt Barkley saw his NFL draft stock drop like an anvil after the Trojans’ forgettable season in 2012. Now, it’s gotten to the point that least one Southern California writer thinks Barkley won’t even hear his name called in the first round.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times writes it’s a “distinct possibility” that Barkley won’t be picked in the first round of this month’s draft. In fact, Farmer projects only one quarterback will go in the first 32 picks: West Virginia’s Geno Smith, to the Eagles at No. 4.

It’s interesting to see Barkley fall so far in the eyes of an L.A.-based writer, but that’s not to say he’s wrong. In fact, SI.com’s own Don Banks left the former USC passer out of the first round of his latest mock as well.

It’s worth looking back at Barkley’s numbers from his junior season — after which he was pegged as a top-five pick had he declared — and comparing them to the totals from his senior season, when Barkley’s stock plummeted:

Read More…

Once pegged as a future star at USC, wideout Markeith Ambles is headed to Houston. (Marin Media/Cal Sport Media)

By Zac Ellis

A former blue-chip prospect appears to have found his way back into major college football. Bruce Feldman of CBSSports.com reported Monday that former five-star wide receiver Markeith Ambles, a onetime USC Trojan, has signed with Houston.

Ambles originally committed to Lane Kiffin at Tennessee but flipped to USC after Kiffin accepted the Trojans’ head coaching job in 2010. The Atlanta native left the USC program just before the 2011 season after a tenure in Los Angeles that included several off-field incidents, including brief a departure from the team in 2010. Ambles made his way to Arizona Western junior college in 2012, catching 44 passes for 757 yards and six touchdowns.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this story comes when considering what the USC receiving corps could have become had Ambles remained in L.A. Partnering Ambles with the likes of Marqise Lee, who led the nation in receptions and was second in receiving yards in 2012, and the departed Robert Woods, a preseason Heisman candidate last season, could have deepened an already explosive group of wideouts. That doesn’t even mention Kyle Prater, Rivals’ No. 1 overall receiver from the 2010 recruiting class, who transferred to Northwestern in January after two banged-up years with USC.

While we’re on the subject, here’s a look back at the top 10 receivers from the ’10 recruiting class, and what they’re doing now:

Read More…

By Zac Ellis

With spring practice in full swing, here’s a glance at some of the nation’s most noteworthy recent developments:

• Nebraska: The feel-good story of the week came out of Nebraska’s spring game. Seven-year-old cancer patient Jack Hoffman, a lifelong Huskers fan, took a handoff from quarterback Taylor Martinez in the waning moments of the scrimmage and scampered 69 yards to the end zone (video above). Huskers players mobbed Hoffman as more than 60,000 fans cheered for the youngster, who befriended running back Rex Burkhead last year while battling brain cancer. What was Hoffman thinking as he took the field? In his words: “Scoring a touchdown.”

• Florida: The Gators limped into their spring game on Saturday with a banged-up group of offensive linemen. The unit was so injury depleted (four linemen were out), in fact, that Will Muschamp changed the format from a traditional spring game to an open practice with scrimmage-type situations. But some good news came out of Gainesville: Quarterback Jeff Driskel, who is aiming to improve his decision-making in his second year as the starter, showed significant signs of development.

• Florida State: Following the departure of E.J. Manuel, the Seminoles’ quarterback situation features plenty of new faces. And while it’s looking like Clint Trickett has the slight edge to become the Seminoles’ man under center, Jacob Coker and Jameis Winston are giving Trickett a run for his money. Still, Trickett is showing the experience that comes with having played in Jimbo Fisher’s system the longest.

Read More…

We have no idea what this entails, but it sounds terrifying:

Lane Kiffin says tight end Xavier Grimble is out for the remainder of spring practices with a "fractured chest". #USC—
Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) March 29, 2013

Yiiiiikes. Get well soon, Grimble.

Steve Spurrier, your thoughts on media coverage of South Carolina’s pro day?

Steve Spurrier: “I noticed both USCs had their pro timing day today. One of them finished No. 7 in the country, the other was not (1/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013

in the Top 25, yet ESPN decided to go out to the one in California which did not finish in the Top 25 and televise their day live. (2/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013

It’s interesting that (ESPN) doesn’t come around here on signing day, they don’t come around here on pro timing day, and yet (3/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013

they want us to play all these Thursday night games. Maybe we need to consider playing on that new network, FoxSports 1" (4/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013

The OBC has clearly not been briefed on the WWL’s Take A Sun Bowl Loser To Work Day initiative.