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USC released its annual end-of-spring depth chart last week, which we posted mostly without comment at the time. Here, now, is our position-by-position analysis of what Lane Kiffin and Co. released, with an eye on what it means for the 2012 Trojans.

Quarterback

This was exactly as expected, with Matt Barkley entrenched and Cody Kessler and Max Wittek continuing to compete behind him. It is noteworthy that Jesse Scroggins is listed a spot behind the two redshirt freshmen and not tied with them, but it'd be a little unfair for him to be anywhere else. He missed most of the spring with hip issues and is still in academic jeopardy.

Running back

Where would Tre Madden have been if he wasn't out for the 2012 season? That's the question this portion of the chart begs. Curtis McNeal would still be starting, but Madden could very well be vying with D.J. Morgan for that No. 2 spot. Javorious Allen will be the third-string back unless he gets beat out by an incoming freshman.

Fullback

Soma Vainuku is locked in as the starter with no pressing competition, but he had himself a nice conclusion to the spring anyway, giving the coaching staff more confidence in him going into the summer. Jahleel Pinner will be somewhat of an unknown.

Receiver

De'Von Flournoy jumped in front of Victor Blackwell with an impressive spring, and has now put himself into position to challenge George Farmer for third-receiver status in the fall. And if Farmer can't stay healthy (again), then Flournoy's suddenly the favorite to line up with Robert Woods and Marqise Lee.

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Notes from Tuesday's spring-opening practice not covered in our other posts off the session:

• Players expected to miss the entire spring because of injuries include tight end Christian Thomas (hip), offensive tackle Chad Wheeler (shoulder), defensive tackle Christian Heyward (shoulder), defensive end DeVante Wilson (knee), cornerback Torin Harris (shoulder) and punter Kyle Negrete (shoulder). All six underwent offseason surgeries. Negrete appeared to punt normally in practice but was announced as out for the spring by Kiffin.

• Players who missed all or part of Tuesday's practice because of injury but are expected to return soon include quarterback Jesse Scroggins (hip), running back Curtis McNeal (shoulder), receiver Robert Woods (ankle), tight ends Xavier Grimble (toe) and Junior Pomee (undisclosed) and defensive back Josh Shaw (back). Only Woods' appears anywhere near serious, and Kiffin himself said he at one point thought the junior would suit up Tuesday. He's still recovering from the same ankle injury he suffered last April playing pick-up basketball.

• Shaw, a talented transfer from Florida, has not received a final determination on his hardship waiver from the NCAA. He is petitioning to be able to play this season instead of sitting out a year based on the argument he returned home to be with ailing family members.

• Kiffin said the MVP of the day was receiver-turned-running-back-turned-receiver George Farmer, who we'll have more on later. Fullback Soma Vainuku made the play of the day with a diving catch on a Matt Barkley throw. Barkley called the play "Havili-esque" afterward after former USC fullback Stanley Havili, who graduated in 2011.

• Forty-one USC students participated in walk-on tryouts during the tail end of practice -- more than twice as many as have come out in the spring or fall in recent years.

• Weight gains and losses: right tackle Aundrey Walker says he is down to 320 pounds after measuring in at 375 on his official visit last January. McNeal says he is up to 195 pounds -- 10 more than what he was at during last season. Left guard Marcus Martin is now listed at 325, a 15-pound drop from last season.

We’re doing position-by-position previews in the weeks leading up to spring practice, breaking down the depth chart for one position group each day, paying special attention to things that can change in the spring.

We’ve looked at the quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen so far. Today, we analyze the defensive linemen.

Lane Kiffin always said former USC defensive end Nick Perry was a unique athlete.

Everyone else finally saw the same thing at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last weekend. Now the tough part comes, though: The Trojans have to replace him and the pass-rush presence he provided on the defensive line the last three seasons.

There isn't another returner on the line who has proven capable and consistent as a pass-rusher. Wes Horton has been effective in stretches and George Uko has shown flashes, but that's about it. Devon Kennard has struggled to get to the quarterback and the other projected starter, nose guard J.R. Tavai, doesn't even try to get there much.

Where will the sacks come from? That's part of what this spring will help figure out.

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Lane Kiffin and USC's coaching staff were a pitching a shutout for the early part of National Signing Day on Wednesday, picking up two huge out-of-state signees in receiver Nelson Agholor and defensive end Leonard Williams early in the morning and sealing the deal on all but one of their longtime commits.

Things were looking good. Then slowly but surely over the next four hours, quarterback Cyler Miles, defensive tackle Aziz Shittu and tackles Kyle Dodson, Andrus Peat and Kyle Murphy, top prospects all of them, each turned the Trojans down. USC, limited to only 15 signees because of NCAA sanctions, finished by securing an important local kid in Carson receiver Darreus Rogers, but the damage had been done.

As Kiffin put it later Wednesday in his press conference at Heritage Hall, USC's "bullpen got rocked."

Kiffin resorted to a pitching analogy to explain how well he thought USC's "starting pitcher" was performing for the first six innings of Signing Day -- getting the Floridians Agholor and Williams, among others -- and how poorly the bullpen performed afterward.

In all, it's unclear if the Trojans actually won the nine-inning game -- that'll come in a year or two or three -- but it didn't go as well as Kiffin and his staff had hoped. It also didn't go nearly as badly as some had projected around the country.

"Obviously you want to focus on the positive, but there's a reality side to it," Kiffin said Wednesday evening. "We had a rough end to the day. But it was a great start, obviously."

The start included Agholor and Williams, which "shocked a lot of people," Kiffin said, and one other "touchdown maker," as Kiffin called him, in tight end Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick. The local kids -- including key offensive linemen Max Tuerk and Jordan Simmons -- all stayed true to their commitments, and the only recruit who defected away from USC was Northern California defensive end Pio Vatuvei, who the Trojans quickly replaced with Williams.

Together, Tuerk, Simmons and Zach Banner, the recruit from the state of Washington who announced he'd picked USC on Monday, add much-needed depth to the Trojans' offensive line, although Murphy, Peat or Dodson would have solidified it even further.

"Size is what sticks out about this class," Kiffin said, recounting the biggest positives from the day, in his eyes. "Really big guys and guys that can play a number of positions.

Kiffin also admitted that he fully expected Murphy, Peat or Dodson to sign, with the Trojans believing at one point last week they were leading in the chase of both Murphy and Peat and believing Wednesday they were first or second in the chase of all three prospects.

"To go 0-for-3 there, I thought we would have at least went 1-for-3," Kiffin said, continuing with the baseball analogy. "And I certainly didn't think two of them would go to the same school."

USC stayed three players below the 15-men limit, which Kiffin said wasn't entirely by design. But it makes sense. By taking only 12 players now, the Trojans save themselves from having to cut three more players to get under the 75-man overall limit come fall camp and allow three early enrollees to come in next January.

The only issue: Depth is at a premium. All 12 players need to pan out and stay in the program, or USC could be in for long-term issues.

"We can't afford attrition," Kiffin said. "So we had to look at everything, from academics to character to how well they play on the field and all the other stuff too.

"We tried to take all that into account."

Here's the full class of the 12 signees:

Nelson Agholor, WR, 6-1, 180, Tampa, FL (Berkeley Prep HS, Tampa, FL)
Zach Banner, OL, 6-9, 335, Puyallup, WA (Lakes HS, Lakewood, WA)
Gerald Bowman, S, 6-1, 215, Philadelphia, PA (Pierce J.C.)
Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick, TE, 6-5, 260, Rocklin, CA (Whitney HS, Rocklin, CA)
Jahleel Pinner, RB, 5-11, 225, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (Mission Viejo (CA) HS)
Darreus Rogers, WR, 6-2, 195, Compton, CA (Carson (CA) HS)
Jabari Ruffin, LB, 6-4, 230, Downey, CA (Downey (CA) HS)
Kevon Seymour, DB, 6-0, 170, Pasadena, CA (Muir HS, Pasadena, CA)
Devian Shelton, DB, 6-2, 185, Inglewood, CA (Inglewood (CA) HS)
Jordan Simmons, OL, 6-5, 335, Inglewood, CA (Crespi HS, Encino, CA)
Max Tuerk, OL, 6-6, 295, Trabuco Canyon, CA (Santa Margarita HS, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA)
Leonard Williams, DL, 6-5, 275, Daytona Beach, FL (Mainland HS, Daytona Beach, FL)

And the five players who have already enrolled for a total of 17

Scott Starr, LB, 6-3, 230, Norco, CA (Norco (CA) HS)
Chad Wheeler, OT, 6-6, 265, Santa Monica, CA (Santa Monica (CA) HS)
DeVante Wilson, DE, 6-4, 235, Corona, CA (Corona (CA) HS)
Morgan Breslin, DE, 6-3, 255, Walnut Creek, CA (Diablo Valley J.C.)
Josh Shaw, S, 6-2, 195 Palmdale, CA (Florida)

With the Monday commitment of four-star offensive tackle Zach Banner (Lakewood, Wa./Lakes), USC now has nine Class of 2012 prospects committed to sign with the school out of 14 available spots.

NCAA sanctions limited the Trojans to 15 signees. They can actually only take 14 because safety Gerald Bowman (Philadelphia, Pa./Pierce College) signed as an early enrollee but didn't finish up his junior-college requirements in time to actually enroll early. So, with barely 36 hours remaining until the faxes will begin rolling in to Heritage Hall on Wednesday morning, let's take a look at which players could potentially fill those five spots.

The following 10 prospects are the candidates. They are listed in a rough order of the likelihood they will sign with the Trojans, from most likely to least. Then we'll go over some of the other things that could still affect the final formulation of the recruiting class, like current commits defecting to other schools and last-second, under-the-radar signees.

WR/RB Nelson Agholor (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep)

Although not yet on campus, Agholor has quickly become Robert Woods' understudy at the receiver position, through social media and his official visit to the Trojans earlier this month.

He seems like a perfect fit as the next top-recruit receiver at USC after Woods and Lee. And he has gotten rave reviews on his character and attitude from all over the country. The only other school he could choose at this point is Florida, but he seems very likely to pick USC.

DE Leonard Williams (Daytona Beach, Fl./Mainland)

Williams is also down to just USC and Florida, according to a recent interview with Rivals.com. An interesting aspect of his recruitment is that he is originally from Los Angeles, which would ease the cross-country transition.

One question: Is a third (or fourth) defensive end really the Trojans' biggest need in this limited class? One could make a convincing argument that a running back would be a better use of the scholarship offer. But Williams is also big enough to make a potential transition to defensive tackle possible, and depth is needed there.

OT Andrus Peat (Tempe, Ariz./Corona Del Sol)

Peat is arguably the second most-important recruit remaining for USC, and he has the Trojans in his final three alongside Nebraska and Stanford. Now that he's gotten in at Stanford and with his brother heading into his second season at Nebraska, it's really an unknown how interested he is in USC.

But he has a ton of potential as a tall, room-to-grow player who could easily bookend USC's line with Banner for two or three seasons.

OT Kyle Murphy (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente)

Let's put it this way: If the Trojans don't get either Peat, Murphy or Kyle Dodson (more later) to go along with Banner, something went wrong in the final week of the 2012 recruiting season.

He has USC and Stanford as his final two schools, and many recruiting analysts have speculated that Peat and Murphy will pick different schools, which would obviously help USC's cause. But there's also the worst-case scenario of Murphy picking Stanford and Peat joining his brother as a Cornhusker.

An item of note on the 6-7 Murphy: His high school teammate and good friend, Christian Tober, announced over the weekend he'd be coming to USC as a preferred walk-on in the fall.

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USC can sign 15 players this year as part of its 2012 recruiting class. It's likely the Trojans will ink all 15 of those players on Signing Day, although there is a possibility they could hold off on a player or two to save space for a last-second top prospect.

Position by position, let's delve into who will make up that 15-man list, including the eight prospects already committed, with assistance from ESPN Recruiting, Rivals and Scout. We'll do the offense Saturday and the defense Sunday.

Quarterback

USC is not seriously recruiting any signal-callers. The Trojans have three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster with three or more years of eligibility remaining.

Running back

This is probably the Trojans' biggest position of need after Amir Carlisle left to Notre Dame and George Farmer switched back to receiver.

Curtis McNeal is the clear-cut No. 1 and D.J. Morgan will back him up, but Javorious Allen is the only other scholarship player on the roster. Jahleel Pinner (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) is committed and expected to sign, but he's more of a fullback than a running back.

It's a near-guarantee USC will sign another running back in the 15. Arizona prep athlete D.J. Foster, who dropped USC during his senior season but is now reconsidering, could be the player the Trojans pick up.

Fullback

Pinner is likely to start his USC career as a fullback, so he'll fill the need here. Plus, the Trojans already have redshirt freshman Soma Vainuku and Simione Vehikite also available.

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National Signing Day is in 16 days, on Feb. 1.

On that day, USC plans to sign 15 players, the most it's allowed to sign under NCAA-mandated limitations because of the sanctions. But will that work, considering the NCAA is also mandating the Trojans keep their total number of scholarships handed out at 75?

It's going to take some finagling. Looking at the updated scholarship math after the latest wave of transfers, USC will still have to create some more spots by the time the 2012 season comes around in one way or another.

Position by position, as of Monday, the Trojans have four quarterbacks, three running backs, two fullbacks, five receivers, four tight ends, four offensive tackles, four guards, three centers, four defensive ends, four defensive tackles, eight linebackers, six cornerbacks, five safeties and three special-teamers on scholarship.

That's 59 players, not including Amir Carlisle, Brice Butler, Kyle Prater, Armond Armstead, T.J. Bryant and Patrick Hall, who have all left the program or are very near leaving.

Then add six more players who are expected to begin attending classes at USC by the Jan. 27 spring-semester deadline: Morgan Breslin, Scott Starr, DeVante Wilson, Gerald Bowman, Chad Wheeler and Josh Shaw.

That's 65 players. With a 75-man cap and 15 players presumably coming in the summer in the class of 2012, that means five more players still have to go. Where will those five players come from?

There are a few possibilities -- let's run through some of them.

-- Three former walk-ons who earned scholarships could have them revoked: offensive lineman Abe Markowitz, linebacker Will Andrew and safety Tony Burnett.

-- Bowman may not finish his junior-college requirements in time to enroll for the spring. That would push him back to the summer and lower USC's total.

-- One or two or a few players could still transfer. Prime candidates would appear to be those locked in at their spots behind younger players.

Those are three primary ways USC could get down to the maximum. Other more-creative, less-likely options are the oft-thrown-around ideas that (1) certain players could give up their scholarships for a year or (2) players who participate in other sports could get supported on scholarships from those sports.

But neither makes much sense -- firstly, it's not just the cost of attendance that a scholarship covers, it also provides the chance to eat in the athletic cafeteria and other similar privileges. And, secondly, there aren't too many football players still playing other sports. There are a few Track & Field athletes, but scholarships are at a premium there too.

Of course, USC could also grey-shirt a signee or two who doesn't qualify and have him come in next January, by which time more current players could transfer. There are ways around it.

Going along with our end-of-year lists that looked at the top performers from the 2011 season and the top questions facing USC in 2012, we're now profiling each of the five early enrollees expected to begin classes at USC this spring, continuing through Friday.

We began Monday with No. 1 was safety Gerald Bowman, a product of nearby Pierce College. No. 2 was defensive end Morgan Breslin of Diablo Valley College, No. 3 was Norco linebacker Scott Starr and No. 4 is Santa Monica lineman Chad Wheeler.

No. 5 is Corona defensive end DeVante Wilson.

Wilson was supposed to be a redshirt freshman by this time, supposed to have been with the Trojans all last season and learned from Ed Orgeron and Co. while bulking up for his first few months of college.

But he tore his ACL just before he was due to arrive on campus at USC last summer and ended up grey-shirting the 2011 season instead of enrolling at USC, essentially extending his clock another year. But because of the injury, it's likely he won't be able to participate in spring practice and also likely he'll redshirt the 2012 season so he can get back to full health.

When he is healthy, Wilson is a nice prospect as a speed rusher. He had 9.5 sacks as a senior at Corona High in 2010 and accumulated 82 tackles the year before while playing with current Trojan Demetrius Wright. But at just 230 pounds, he needs to gain quite a bit of weight.

In that sense, he's similar to fourth-year junior Kevin Greene, who came in to USC in 2009 so light that he started out at linebacker. Now he's up to 260 pounds and a key reserve defensive end behind starters Devon Kennard and Wes Horton.

Greene was more productive than Wilson in high school, but the new signee is a high-reward type who could grow into an impact player while a Trojan. And, by enrolling in January and catching up with some of what he missed last fall, Wilson is putting himself in good shape to compete for playing time.

It's worth noting that the only other big program to offer him a scholarship out of high school was Nebraska -- not that his lack of offers necessarily means anything in regards to his future productivity.

But, if he does develop into an impact player, he would certainly qualify as a diamond in the rough of sorts for Orgeron and James Cregg, the USC assistant who recruited him.

That concludes our early enrollee series. With the five players profiled here and Florida transfer Josh Shaw, USC hopes to have six new scholarship players available for spring practice, which will be a boon for depth purposes considering the transfers that have already occurred and those that still could.

Going along with our end-of-year lists that looked at the top performers from the 2011 season and the top questions facing USC in 2012, we're now profiling each of the five early enrollees expected to begin classes at USC this spring, continuing through Friday.

We began Monday with No. 1 was safety Gerald Bowman, a product of nearby Pierce College. No. 2 was defensive end Morgan Breslin of Diablo Valley College; No. 3 was Norco linebacker Scott Starr. No. 4 is Santa Monica lineman Chad Wheeler.

One thing you should know about Chad Wheeler right off the bat: He's vegetarian.

He's 6-6 and 260 pounds and vegetarian. Seriously.

Wheeler is a project for sure, but it's easy to see his potential to be an impact player at the college level. His frame looks like it hasn't come close to reaching its peak, and he didn't even play his first two years at Santa Monica High. But the USC coaching staff saw enough of him to offer him a spot in the Trojans' 2012 recruiting class -- if he was able to qualify academically to enroll early, of course.

He appears to have qualified and should be available to participate in spring practice with the Trojans beginning in March.

Where does he fit? Some sources had him as a strongside defensive end in the recruiting process, but the truth is there aren't many 6-6, 270-pound defensive ends at the college level, and he'll probably be at least 270 pounds by the time he gets going with USC's strength and conditioning systems.

He played both end and offensive tackle in high school, and the latter spot is where he'll likely end up at USC. Think of him as a right tackle of the future, assuming Kevin Graf stays there in 2012 and sophomore Aundrey Walker wins the left starting spot in spring practice or fall camp.

Have Wheeler redshirt a year and then sit for another season, and he could be a starting candidate at right tackle when Graf leaves following the 2013 season. That makes the most sense.

Of course, many said it made the most sense for Marqise Lee to start out as a safety, so you never know. Wheeler could end up an end or a really-tall interior offensive lineman.

But he's certainly a project, and an intriguing one at that.

Check back Friday for our series-concluding profile of DeVante Wilson.

Going along with our end-of-year lists that looked at the top performers from the 2011 season and the top questions facing USC in 2012, we're now profiling each of the five early enrollees expected to begin classes at USC this spring, beginning Monday and continuing through Friday.

No. 1 was safety Gerald Bowman, a product of nearby Pierce College. No. 2 is defensive end Morgan Breslin of Diablo Valley College.

Breslin is a pass-rusher by nature who needs to bulk up to effectively play on the defensive line at the major-college level. But he has a good amount of potential as a pure pass rusher and could be a nice player to have in the rotation over the next few years.

A two-year starter at Diablo Valley up north, Breslin is not yet on campus at USC but is believed to be arriving sometime this week. He is precisely the type of player who can benefit most from a semester in the strength and conditioning program before the fall, and the Trojans clearly see some potential him to be available as a reserve in 2012. Nick Perry's gone to the NFL, and Armond Armstead is unlikely to return to USC, so there are depth issues on the outside of the defensive line.

But once seniors-to-be Devon Kennard and Wes Horton finish their USC careers, it'll be players like Breslin, Greg Townsend Jr. and Kevin Greene competing to replace them.

The 6-3, 245-pound Breslin led all of California's junior colleges in sacks each of the past two years, recording a combined 28 sacks. He played high school football in Walnut Creek -- the home of the Pac-12 offices, incidentally -- and also played rugby.

He's another example of a player who was committed to another school until USC saw him and started heavily recruiting him. Breslin was all set to enroll at UCLA this spring until Trojans recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Ed Orgeron saw him on film and then gave him the hard sell.

Breslin is one of two defensive ends USC is currently bringing in, with Pio Vatuvei the other. Chad Wheeler, another early enrollee we're profiling later this week, could also play end in college but was recruited as an offensive tackle by most schools.

Check back Wednesday for our profile of Scott Starr.

With the spring semester at USC beginning Monday, five of the Trojans' class of 2012 recruits are expected to begin taking classes this week or next: safety Gerald Bowman, defensive end Morgan Breslin, linebacker Scott Starr, offensive tackle Chad Wheeler and defensive end DeVante Wilson.

Going along with our end-of-year lists that looked at the top performers from the 2011 season and the top questions facing USC in 2012, we're now profiling each of the five players, beginning Monday and continuing through Friday. Here's No. 1, Bowman, a product of nearby Pierce College.

Bowman's the most college-ready of any of the five players USC's been bringing in, and will probably be the most college-ready of anybody in USC's entire 20-person recruiting class. He could start at a number of schools across the country next year, and he probably was going to start for the Trojans if T.J. McDonald declared early for the NFL draft.

But McDonald will be back in 2012, as will his counterpart at safety, senior Jawanza Starling. Those two will have those spots fairly locked down. Bowman, then, becomes one-half of the Trojans' safety combination of the future with junior Demetrius Wright, who once challenged Starling for his spot but fell behind because of injuries.

The only problem: He's not officially in school yet, still needing to finish winter inter-session classes up at a local school in the interim to meet all the qualification requirements at USC. The deadline to begin attending spring-semester classes at USC is Jan. 27, giving him about two and a half weeks to get everything arranged.

If he does, he'll be able to participate in team meetings and workouts immediately. If he doesn't, he'll still be a 2012 recruit but will be set back quite a bit as a juco player. A redshirt would be a real possibility if he didn't get to USC until the summer, as he does have three years to play two.

Bowman took a roundabout route to end up in Southern California after going to high school in Philadelphia. Now some recruiting services' No. 1-ranked junior college player, he clearly has the speed and size to succeed at the position. He's 6-1 and 210 pounds and reportedly runs a 4.45 40-yard dash. His ball-hawking instincts could use work, but he consistently plays aggressively on film, showing a McDonald-like tendency to step up to ballcarriers and knock them back.

Check back Tuesday for our profile of Breslin, the other junior-college player of the five.

As expected, Corona defensive end DeVante Wilson officially enrolled at USC on Monday as the fifth early enrollee in the Trojans' 2012 recruiting class, the school announced.

Wilson, a 6-4, 235-pound defensive end, originally signed with USC last February and was set to enroll at the school for the 2011 fall semester, but he tore ligaments in his knee and gray-shirted while recovering.

He was a 2010 Prep Star All-American as a senior at Corona High, recording 59 tackles with 9.5 sacks. As a junior in 2009, he made 84 tackles and 2 forced fumbles.

Wilson becomes the fifth 2012 recruit to enroll early with the Trojans this year, although all five are not confirmed to be on campus and taking classes. The other four players are linebacker Scott Starr, offensive lineman Chad Wheeler, safety Gerald Bowman and defensive lineman Morgan Breslin.

Two junior-college prospects signed letters of intent to enroll at USC in January on Wednesday, the first day of the midyear signing period, the school announced.

Safety Gerald Bowman (Woodland Hills, Calif./Pierce J.C.) and defensive end Morgan Breslin (Pleasant Hill, Calif./Diablo Valley J.C.) signed with the Trojans after both flirting with other schools. Bowman was down to Oklahoma and USC; Breslin had been committed to UCLA for several months before changing course over the last week.

Bowman, 6-1 and 215 pounds, is rated as a four-star prospect by ESPN Recruiting and among the top junior-college prospects in the country by all recruiting services. Breslin, 6-3 and 245 pounds, is not graded by ESPN but has a four-star grade from Rivals.com.

“We are thrilled to add both Gerald and Morgan into our program in January,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said in a statement. “Gerald was the nation’s No. 2-rated junior college player and we look forward to him making an impact on our team over the next two years. Morgan’s last-minute decision to change to USC was very critical to us because Nick Perry left early to go to the NFL. After an extremely productive two-year junior college career, he will raise the competition level on our defensive line.”

Both Breslin and Bowman will have three years to play two at USC, meaning they will have redshirt years available. And, by enrolling in January, they don't count against the Trojans' 15-person recruiting class limit for the official Class of 2012.

The Trojans plan to six sign or seven early-enrollees -- meaning four or five more -- between now and Jan. 15, when the current signing period ends.

Three of those will likely be linebacker Scott Starr (Norco, Calif./Norco), lineman Chad Wheeler (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica) and defensive end DeVante Wilson (Corona, Calif./Corona). Wilson originally signed with USC in February as part of the 2011 class but greyshirted last season after tearing his ACL.

Starr and Wheeler are both high-school prospects who plan to enroll early.

Bowman was the 2011 Southern California Football Association American Division Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore at Pierce. His final numbers included 52 tackles, including a sack, an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. He earned All-Region IV first team and All-Conference first team honors as a freshman in 2010 while making 58 tackles, a sack and an interception.

He prepped at Imhotep High in Philadelphia (Pa.), where he ran for more than 1,600 yards as a senior with eight touchdowns.

Breslin led all California junior colleges in sacks and tackles for losses the past two seasons. As a 2011 sophomore, he had 13.5 sacks and made All-American first team, All-State Regional Defensive Player of the Year and All-Golden Gate Conference first team. He had 54 tackles, including 23.5 for losses with 14.5 sacks, as a 2010 freshman.

He prepped at Las Lomas High in Walnut Creek, where he played rugby.