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The Trojans, thanks to an impressive final week of recruiting, wrapped up the best class in the Pacific-10, a tad more impressive than UCLA and Arizona State. Late commitments to Paul Hackett included SportsLine Top 100 players Alex Holmes, a tight end, and hard-hitting safety Matt Grootegoed, as well as defensive end Nate Goodson -- all from California.

Put them with the best offensive line prospect in the West (Joe McGuire) and guys like running back Chris Howard … and the Trojans managed to steal some of the recruiting thunder that has belonged to UCLA the past couple of seasons.

"But it's so close," said PrepStar managing editor Rick Kimbrel. "All it takes is one guy who overachieves and that could be the difference in a team going to the Rose Bowl."

Offensive line was a top priority for Hackett in this class, and he got plenty in addition to McGuire. They're not Top 100-types, but Kenchi Udeze (6-5, 310) from Los Angeles and Blair Jones (6-8, 265) from Newport, Calif., have loads of potential.

"Blair Jones … remember the name," Kimbrel said. "He's kind of tall and skinny, nice long arms. He went to the Michigan football camp last summer, and Michigan offered him a scholarship on the spot."

UCLA lost out on head-to-head battles for Grootegoed and Holmes, but followed up two national Top-10 classes with another worthy effort, the kind of consecutive classes that lead to the Rose Bowl.

Tab Perry is arguably the best receiver on the West Coast, Paul Mociler and John Ream headline a good group of offensive linemen, and linebacker Brandon Chillar has the kind of talent that could lead to very early playing time.

Arizona State can make a credible case for having the best class in the league, landing two Top 100 players -- quarterback Andrew Walter and running back Mike Williams.

"Walter reminds me so much of Jake Plummer -- but a larger version -- that it wasn't even funny," Kimbrel said.

Stanford hit the jackpot with two of the top three prospects from the Atlantic region -- Kwame Harris, the nation's No. 1 offensive lineman, and Brandon Royster, the third-rated running back in the country.

Oregon scored with a large class brimming with defensive back-wide receivers type skill players.

"They have a lot of guys who can flat-out play," Kimbrel said. "I really like their class."

As for Oregon State, coming off their first winning season since 1970? "Best class since the '60s," Kimbrel said.

QBs go long … too long

The Pac-10 region is leaking recruits, which maybe shouldn't be that much of a surprise given the league's woeful non-conference record last season and it's sullied reputation.

But even more disturbing is that the Conference of Quarterbacks -- of John Elway and Troy Aikman and Drew Bledsoe and Mark Brunell -- can't seem to convince the best quarterbacks in the West to play in the league, anymore.

Of the four quarterbacks rated the best on the West Coast, none will be in the Pac-10.

Tennessee went west to snare two top-10 quarterbacks -- Casey Clausen from California and John Rattay from Arizona. Two more top-10 Californians -- Chris Rix (Florida State) and Zac Wasserman (Penn State) -- also decided to go long.

Best of the JCs

Oregon has done it again. First, the Ducks hit the mark with JC running back Saladin McCullough, then JC running back Reuben Droughns … and now they might make a seamless transition to Maurice Morris from Fresno City College.

Morris is considered the top runner in the junior-college ranks, and was wooed heavily by Southern California before he chose Oregon. The Ducks also add SportsLine All-American defensive back Gary McGraw.

Another SportsLine All-American defensive back -- Chris Cash from Palomar College -- signed with Colorado out of high school but didn't have the grades. This time around, USC landed one of the best cover corners around.

"He reminds me a lot of (former Arizona player) Chris McAlister," Kimbrel said. "You know how McAlister was always helmet-to-helmet with receiver? That's how Cash plays."

Arizona put together an excellent junior-college class, headlined by All-America offensive lineman Ralph Zarate (a Tucsonan who originally signed with -- gasp -- Arizona State), All-America linebacker Tony Thompson and lots of help for the secondary.

Remember how bad Arizona's kicking game was last season? Six-for-18 on field goals, five missed extra points? So, for all the excellent junior-college players coming into the league, this player might make the biggest impact: Kicker Tommy Kirovski, who is riding to the rescue of the Wildcats' special teams.

Tales from the recruiting trail

A "sleeper" quarterback to remember: Ryan Eklund from Federal Way, Wash. Eklund, 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, committed to Stanford. "He threw the ball 80 yards in the air at the Stanford summer camp, and the coaches tried to keep it real quiet," Kimbrel said. "And they were successful at it." …

Cal needed a little coaxing to recruit receiver Geoff McArthur from Pacific Palisades, Calif. "Cal wrote him a letter in October, saying they were dropping him. And his coach called up (Tom) Holmoe and said, 'Whoever sent my guy that letter, you should fire. I'm going to send you a tape of Geoff, and if you still feel the same way, then don't ever trust me again.' " Holmoe saw the tape, liked what he saw … and offered a scholarship. McArthur had 91 receptions for 1,770 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior.

UCLA landed one of the strongest players this recruiting season in Eyoseph Efseaff, a defensive lineman who is originally from Russia. Efseaff, who attended high school in Porterville, Calif., benches over 400 pounds and squats nearly 600. It sounds like the stuff of legends, but Kimbrel said: "I saw him once make a sack by picking up the center and throwing him into the quarterback, knocking down the quarterback."

Oregon also gained a player originally from Russia -- DL Igor Olshansky from St. Ignatius in San Francisco. "We had him way underrated," Kimbrel admitted.

Huskies are back

Jim Lambright was asked to leave Washington, in part, because Washington high school recruits kept leaving the state. Rick Neuheisel was partly to blame, luring many of the state's top prospects to Colorado.

But now that Neuheisel is at Washington, he is doing what Husky fans want: Close the borders. Keep the best players at home. When Don James was in his heyday, the state was surrounded by what was known as "the Purple Curtain," as the Huskies routinely got 75-90 percent of the in-state players they wanted.

"What I like about this class is that Rick is establishing ties to the Northwest and getting players from California," Kimbrel said. "People will remember this as the class that kick-started the whole thing."

The Huskies' lead recruit is offensive lineman Daniel Dicks, a Top 100 player from Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle (and nephew of former UW star and longtime U.S. Congressman Norm Dicks).

Washington didn't get everybody it wanted, however. Linebacker Larry Stevens from Tacoma, Wash., left for Michigan, and tight end Willie Moss-Walden from Vancouver, Wash., is headed to Oregon. And two other highly regarded players -- defensive end John Bronson and receiver Ryan Scott -- were early commitments to Penn State.

Beware of signing day glory

Two years ago, Cal signed what was dubbed the "Fab Five," a highly recruited quintet of receivers. Well, that's about dust now.

Cal ended up needing immediate help at receiver this year because its best offensive player -- receiver Michael Ainsworth -- flunked out of school … and so did Ronnie Davenport, another important player.

Another member of that receiver group had already failed to make grades and another left school, leaving little-used Brian White as the Only One of the Fab Five.

So the Bears went and got some immediate help by signing three junior-college receivers in December -- Charon Arnold, Chad Heydorff and Derek Swafford -- something they couldn't have imagined having to do on signing day, 1998.