USC, Penn State rebuilding depth

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Here is what a roster with 85 scholarship players looks like in reality: redshirts, freshmen who aren't physically, emotionally and/or mentally ready for college football, injured players and guys that the coaching staff whiffed on. On any given Saturday, a coach might have 60 or 65 guys available to him.

And here, after two years of an NCAA penalty that reduced Penn State's annual scholarship allotment to 15 (10 below the minimum), is what the Nittany Lions' roster looks like: "I'll tell you this," Franklin said. "The last game of the year, we were playing with 41 scholarship players."

Signing day is always a milepost of rebirth, planting season for a harvest that might not arrive for two years or three years or ever. But the excitement aborning at Penn State and USC as they wait for Wednesday is altogether different. NCAA-mandated scholarship reductions have limited the Trojans to 15 players in each of the past three seasons -- one more than the Nittany Lions.

Sarkisian never had more than 67 scholarship players this season. He never had more than 57 dress for a game, and the average for the past six regular-season games dwindled to 53.

"It's one thing when you start a freshman or two -- maybe one on one side of the ball, one on the other," he said. "As a staff, you can really focus on that individual and help him through some of the issues, like media, like fatigue, like balancing class with playing.

"We played eight of them."

The Trojans have needs everywhere. Before Wednesday, they have two scholarship running backs on the roster. That might be why Ronald Jones II, the No. 1 running back in the ESPN RecruitingNation 300, committed this past month to signing with the Trojans on Wednesday. USC has commitments from 12 prospects among the 300, and Penn State has nine. That number might rise for either school as decisions are made in the next 24 hours.

Franklin explained how the lack of depth is a penalty that continues to enforce itself.

"You don't have enough scholarship offensive linemen," Franklin said. "They're mostly walk-ons, and they're going against your first-team scholarship defensive line, and they can't even come close to blocking them, so now it stunts the development of your backup quarterback. Well, if it stunts the development of your backup quarterback, that stunts the development of your defensive backs, because they're not getting the look in practice that they normally have."

It's no surprise the Nittany Lions made linemen a priority. Last season, excluding freshmen, Penn State had a total of one offensive tackle. As signing day approaches, Penn State already has signed two offensive linemen, Sterling Jenkins of Pittsburgh and juco transfer Paris Palmer of Plymouth, North Carolina. The Nittany Lions also have commitments from two more offensive linemen and five defensive linemen.

USC went 9-4 the past season, and Penn State went 7-6. USC has known for a year that it would have 25 scholarships available for 2015. Penn State has known only since September, when the NCAA lifted the 10-scholarship penalty on the program for 2015 and 2016.

That timetable can be seen in a geographic footprint of committed prospects. The bulk of USC's class is from California, as always, yet the Trojans regained enough of their old swagger to pluck Jones from Texas and top offensive tackle Chuma Edoga from Powder Springs, Georgia. Edoga, a mid-year signee, started class last week.

Penn State's class comes almost entirely from its traditional recruiting grounds -- the mid-Atlantic region, ranging from New Jersey to Virginia. There's no need to explain to a 17-year-old there who Penn State is. He knows.

The Trojans are a trendy top-five pick for the 2015 season because Sarkisian did play so many freshmen this past season and because quarterback Cody Kessler had a terrific season in the shadow cast over all Pac-12 quarterbacks by Heisman winner Marcus Mariota of Oregon.

But after years of living on a subsistence diet, no one can eat one big meal and be healthy again. That metaphor might go unheard among the win-now fan bases of traditional powers such as USC and Penn State, but that doesn't make it any less true. The Trojans and Nittany Lions will rejoice Wednesday as they announce classes bulging with signees.

All that means is they finally have a warehouse full of building materials. The remodeling job isn't done yet.