Last year USC’s recruiting prowess took a big step forward and the results in March were immediate. Clement Lefert became a one-man scoring machine in posting nearly as many points as the entire Trojan squad did a year before.
| This class pushes USC past the top-ten tipping point. As good as Michigan signee Kyle Whitaker is, USCinee Vlad Morozov could have a bigger impact at NCAA’s. In May he led off a pair of relays with national high school records in the 50 and 100 freestyle and if you replace the Trojan’s lead-off legs with the newcomer they make it back top eight.
Of course if you also place Dimitri Colupaev, a European Champ finalist for Germany on those same relays, well who knows what the future holds. From there, the Trojans assembled a host of guys Chase Bloch, Sean Mulroy, Jack Wagner, and Nick Johnson, guys who can fit into the lineup in any number of places.
The sleeper of this group though is breaststroker Matthan Stroethoff. Stroethoff comes to Cali from Missoula and was blown away by Salo and his philosophy. “Everything he mentioned about why he did the things that he did impressed me,” Stroethoff told us. When all is said and done, however, Stroethoff is the one who will leave an impression and that’s important because he’s best where the Trojans are weakest.
USC lost just five guys to graduation this year and looks to lose even fewer next season so the Trojans’ window of opportunity will be open for awhile, but the faster these guys acclimate, the faster USC breaks into the big time.
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