'10 CA ATH Ronald Powell

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'10 CA ATH Ronald Powell



Athlete
Moreno Valley (CA) Rancho Verde

Ht: 6-foot-3
Wt: 248 lbs
Forty: 4.9 secs
Class: 2010 (High School)

Matt Calkins: Recruiting Process Starts Early for Some Football Stars | Sports | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Last month, USC offered Moreno Valley Rancho Verde defensive end Ronald Powell a football scholarship.

This isn't particularly uncommon for a 6-foot-3, 248-pounder who runs a 4.9 40, but it is a tad unusual for a kid yet to begin his junior year of high school.

Powell didn't even participate in the prestigious Rising Stars Camp held on the Trojans' campus in June because of a split lip, yet still their intuition said to offer him tuition.

I know what the general public is thinking: Committing wholeheartedly to a 10th grader? Sophomoric, right?

What if they don't pan out? Couldn't this stifle their motivation to improve? Is it a concern that this might swell their heads so big they need custom-made helmets?

"Absolutely," said Brennan Carroll, USC's recruiting coordinator and Coach Pete Carroll's son. "I don't like how this has gotten so sped up. If it were up to me, we'd wait until they're going into their senior year."

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