Last year the USC defense was inconsistent, and sometimes downright shaky; Vince Young and Texas left the nation with a less than flattering impression of the Trojans’ defenders. But Carroll set out to fix that, too.

The Trojans’ linebackers had been a strength already. Now they’re even more formidable with the addition of recruits like Josh Tatum of Oakland and Mike Morgan of Dallas. They also nailed two five-star safeties in Taylor Mays of Seattle and Antwine Perez of Camden, N.J. to go along with Bradford and Gable, and they secured an excellent corner in Shareece Wright, Bradford’s teammate at Colton High.

Two other areas where the Trojans needed replenishment were on the offensive and defensive lines. Like the Rose Bowl game, they came up a little short.

They lost out on three of the best offensive linemen prospects in the nation when Sam Young chose Notre Dame, Andre Smith picked Alabama and Steve Schilling opted for Michigan. But USC managed to get the top offensive lineman in the state of California in Zack Heberer out of San Pedro. They also got Butch Lewis of Aurora, Colo., a two-way monster.

Top Signing Day classes The top 10 recruiting classes as rated by five of the top recruiting analysts: RC SC SCI SP TL 1. Alabama Ohio St. Alabama LSU LSU 2. LSU LSU LSU Alabama Ohio St. 3. USC Alabama USC Texas USC 4. Ohio St. USC Ohio St. USC Texas 5. Texas UNC Georgia Florida Alabama 6. Florida St. Texas UNC Georgia UNC 7. Michigan UCLA Texas Miami S.Carolina 8. UNC Georgia Michigan Florida St. Georgia 9. Georgia Oklahoma Oklahoma Ohio St. Florida 10. Florida Penn St. Penn St. Michigan Michigan RC: Rivals.com; SC: Scout.com; SCI: Scouts, Inc./ESPN; SP: SuperPrep/Allen Wallace/Scout.com; TL: Tom Lemming/CBS College Sports; Source: Associated Press

On the defensive side, the Trojans got tackle Derek Simmons of Fairfield, Calif., and end Alex Parsons of Irvine, Calif., both four-star recruits. Since the Trojans lost starters LaJuan Ramsey and Frostee Rucker at tackle and end, respectively, there are a couple of job openings waiting to be filled by eager young candidates.

But USC did lose out on some sought-after D-line studs, including Gerald McCoy, an Oklahoma native who decided to stay there and play for the Sooners, and Gabe Long and Louis Holmes, two JC transfers who signed with Arizona.

But the USC recruiting class is No. 1 or No. 2, still the envy of many.

And the backfield is back to normal, which is to say, crowded.