Silas’ Choice: Weighing USC & Penn State For RB Redd

Silas Redd is unlikely to call a press conference, seated at a table with a USC cap on one side and Penn State on the other. Still, Tuesday is feeling a lot like National Signing Day — and it’s felt more like a soap opera.

The Penn State running back and third leading rusher in the Big Ten during 2011, Redd has been pursued hard in the wake of NCAA sanctions opening PSU players to transfer. Redd has been rumored to return to PSU. Then he’s been “a solid lean” to USC. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of Redd’s recruitment life.

Barring Redd’s evil twin appearing on ESPN, the nation will get a definite conclusion to this cliffhanger. USC boasts several qualities that make a move seem the obvious choice.

The Trojans are coming off an NCAA bowl ban, while PSU begins its own. Wins at PSU count for pride; at USC, they will count toward pursuit of a BCS championship. Championships fuel the competitive fires that drive top-level athletes.

And the Trojans’ title aspirations are legitimate. Coming off a very strong finish to a 10-2 campaign, USC returns an experienced offensive line, a 1000-yard rusher with whom Redd can share carries, a Heisman Trophy favorite quarterback and the best wide receiver corps in college football.

USC faces an uphill battle, make no mistake. Scholarship reductions similar to those imposed on PSU have thinned the Trojan depth chart, which should manifest in some defensive struggles. That presents an opportunity for Redd to be that much more of a hero. Trotting into Tinseltown and writing the happy ending to USC’s redemption story would reserve Redd a footnote in Trojan lore among the program’s many great tailbacks.

And it is indeed a redemption story at USC, conveyed in the Unfinished Business tagline.

The Reggie Bush scandal that led to the Trojans’ two-year postseason prohibition is not even comparable to the atrocities that landed PSU in the unprecedented trouble it finds itself. Even using the word scandal to describe the infractions committed as USC seems off-base.

PSU is marred. Any loss of scholarships or bowl restriction is superfluous in comparison to the crimes former PSU assistant Jerry Sandusky committed, and the role that football is declared to have played harbinger.

The football season Redd would face remaining at PSU is not about redemption. What Nittany Lion football needs is rebuilding. To that end, Redd would not be a footnote in program history but rather the entire first chapter.

The years ahead will be challenging for Bill O’Brien and PSU. Scholarship reductions and the stigma attached to the program now will ensure that. But the commitment other Nittany Lions have made to the program give hope that a team that finished 9-4 a year ago can begin a new era on a positive note, should they finish the 12-game, 2012 slate with a winning record.

If Redd plans on entering the 2013 NFL Draft, laying the foundation for the rebuilt PSU program would be quite the legacy to leave behind.

Perhaps lost in all the chatter of what Redd can do for whom is Redd himself. This is ultimately his choice, and about what is best for his future. Redd is an NFL talented back. USC has produced numerous professional backs, and will continue to.

O’Brien is a proven cultivator of NFL offensive stars. His units at New England completely changed the professional ranks. O’Brien has this resume to tout in his final pitch.