FOR A school in a sparsely populated state such as Nebraska, which produced 43 BCS recruits over the past five years (of whom 21 remained in-state to play for the Cornhuskers), by necessity more work is devoted to recruiting out of state, from coast to coast even (map, opposite). Coming off his first season as Nebraska coach, Bo Pelini, formerly the defensive coordinator at LSU, targeted several recruits in Florida this season. The work paid off when he landed a commitment from DeAndre Byrd, a stellar defensive back from Lincoln High in Tallahassee. Nebraska also is expected to sign five players from California, the top-rated of whom is safety Dijon Washington from Leuzinger High in the L.A. suburb of Lawndale. Says Nebraska recruiting coordinator Ted Gilmore of luring players from the Sun Belt, "We have two indoor fields. We can keep them warm."
The encroachments by the Nebraskas, to say nothing of the Trojans' Pac-10 rivals, make the USC coaches even more determined to defend their turf. With the 2009 class almost wrapped, they're turning their attention to recruiting the best in-state players in the class of '10. The staff plans to visit each of California's 1,053 football-playing high schools at least once in the next year. "If it's an all-girls' school, we're not going to go there," recruiting coordinator Brennan Carroll, Pete's son and the Trojans' tight ends coach, says. "But if you're playing high school football, we'll be there."