Kiffin Planet takes over at USC

January 13th, 2010 | By boadurichard

“By your Powers Combined!!” USC has made a major move in this chess game that is finding a coach in college football, and checkmate is the overwhelming answer to their problem after Pete Carroll defected to Seattle earlier this week.

Heart!!  Lane Kniffin, the young brash and gifted Bobby Fischer of college football has returned home to Southern California as the next head man at USC. He was a member of the USC coaching staff from 2001 to ‘06, first as wide receivers coach and then as offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll. Kniffin within 24 hours has already assembled a dream team that any college would love to have, but also one that is very familiar with the lay of the land in L.A.

Fire!! Monty Kniffin is coming with Lane to USC. The older Kniffin is a beast as defensive coordinator and really put together a fine defense at Tennessee in his one year there. Monty “Python”, as I like to call him for obvious reasons is a proven commodity at every level of football and if he does half the job he did last year at Tennessee with the athletes he now has under his tutelage at SC, the Trojan defense could very well lead the country in total defense next year.

Wind!!!! Norm Chow the offensive guru, who held the offensive coordinator position from 2001-2004, will breathe fresh air into an offense that was anemic at times last year. I was understood that there was some underlying tension between Chow and Kniffin in the past, but it seems they have squashed their beef in order to take over the college football world. What is so exciting about Chow is he brings proven offensive prowess to the table, but more importantly, he has Matt Barkley at his disposal. We all know what Norm’s offenses did with Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer turning them into Heisman trophy winners. Wrestling Chow away from UCLA was a major coup and will add a little spice to the cross town rivalry, not now but right now.

Water!!  Ed Orgeron is a recruiting beast, browse through the The Meat Market if you need proof or just look at his long resume of success convincing talented young men to play for his teams. The former Ole Miss Head coach is still responsible for the recent resurgence of the Rebels with the great talent he convinced to enroll at Oxford. You need recruits, “water”,  to survive  and USC has been losing big name recruits to out of state schools this year more than they have in recent memory. Tony Jefferson to Oklahoma, Ronald Powell, Travon Van, and Joshua Shaw all to Florida were huge losses for USC this year. USC has always been a national recruiter, but never in recent memory have they lost out on such good talent so close to home, but Orgeron will lock that down asap. Furthermore, if you look at the recruiting push Kniffin and company put on when they arrived at Tennessee last year expect them to make some major waves in the next three weeks leading up to national signing day.

Earth!!  I don’t have a good reference here to tie the whole analogy together, but I can promise you that Kniffin had the Vols heading in the right direction in a major way as soon as he landed in Knoxville. Kniffin, if had chose to stay two more years there would have won an SEC championship. The earth will once again revolve around USC football very soon because the coaching is there, experience is there, the cupboard is far from bare, and Kniffin and company have proven they get it “poppin” as soon as they touch down, no pun intended.

This is a great hire for USC, you have to feel for the Vol Nation, but bringing Kniffin home may well solidify USC as THE POWER west of the Mississippi many years into the future once Kniffin and the rest of his talented Planeteers let their powers combine. Look for a product truly special coming out of Los Angeles.

Chow ……. Pun intended,

Claude Clayborne
6Magazine
CO-EIC
“The defensive coordinator of 6Magazine” – Defense wins championships!

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