Rutgers is starting to show it can compete against anyone in the country on the field and in recruiting. But how about off it? Staff writer Alex Delanian, who covered USC last season, will offer some comparisons and contrasts between the programs in a five-part series this week that starts today.

Part 2: The players

Let's make a few things clear right from the start:

1. Ray Rice? His experience would make him the starting tailback at USC this fall - but he would be pressed all season by the mega-talented young guns.

2. Tim Brown and Mason Robinson (and a few others) would compete for fastest 40 time on the team.

3. Pedro Sosa and Jeremy Zuttah are as big and strong as anyone on USC's offensive line.

4. Eric Foster and Courtney Greene ... you get the point.

They tell me there was a time (say three or four years ago when Dwayne Jarrett and Brian Cushing left Jersey for the left coast) when Rutgers didn't have the same type of players as USC. From what I've seen, that's changed. Rutgers' star players are just as big, strong and fast as USC's star players. And they would be starters (if not stars) at USC.

There's just not as many of them. Here's the problem:

If Ray Rice gets hurt this season, the team crosses their fingers that the undersized Kordell Young holds up for the rest of the year. If one of USC's running backs goes down, they can just plug in one of the seven Parade All-Americans on their roster.

Brown and Robinson would be among USC's fastest players, capable of winning a race against any Trojan, but it would be a far more difficult task for Rutgers to compete in relay races.

The depth also results in some intimidating lineups, like the Trojan linebacking trio considered the best in the nation - Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga and Bergen Catholic's own Cushing. Rutgers' most experienced linebacker is Brandon Renkart, a former walk-on.

Of course, not every unit is like that. Aside from USC's Sam Baker, Rutgers has a bigger and more experienced offensive line. It shows that the Scarlet Knights don't recruit like the Trojans but they're still capable of putting together a team that could compete with them.

But depth is the reason USC is overwhelmingly considered the No. 1 team in the nation while Rutgers' ranking fluctuates in different polls from the high 10s to unranked. It's the difference between being top 25 and top five.

Rutgers, simply put, can't miss in recruiting - and needs to find a few steals.

Ray Rice was ranked the No. 19 all-purpose back of his recruiting class by Rivals.com. Another recruiting Web site, Scout.com, considered him the 59th best cornerback.

Now he's a Heisman Trophy candidate. It's an example of inconsistency in the world of high school recruiting and a testament to individual programs to rely on their own evaluation methods to figure out the players that will flourish. Rutgers saw something in Ray Rice and ended up with a stud.

Two years before Ray Rice left high school, USC went after a high school legend named Whitney Lewis. In his senior year with St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif., Lewis posted the following stats: 1,235 receiving yards on 65 catches, 1,059 rushing yards on 112 carries and 42 total touchdowns. He scored every 4.5 times he touched the ball.

Now he's shuffling positions at the University of Northern Iowa. It's another example of inconsistency in blah, blah, you get the picture.

But here's the catch. If Ray Rice doesn't develop into the type of back Rutgers thinks he'll become, tough. That's another setback for a program trying to rebuild and maybe coach Greg Schiano is on the hot seat instead of a throne.

Lewis was the No. 1 wide receiver recruit on Scout.com in 2003, the prize of the Trojans' incoming class, but as he devolved into an overweight and unmotivated bust, the team barely batted an eye.

That recruiting class also included a few other notable names: Wide receiver Steve Smith, who was just drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Giants; quarterback John David Booty, the team's own Heisman Trophy candidate for the upcoming season; and Baker, considered one of the top three tackles in the country.

Oh, and a pair of running backs named Reggie Bush and LenDale White. Needless to say, Lewis wasn't missed.

And there is your roundabout explanation of the difference between the players in Piscataway and Los Angeles - Rutgers recruits guys who have the chance to be just as good as the guys at USC, but USC recruits about a dozen of them.

But without the luxury of overwhelming depth, the Rutgers players develop something else - humility.

I've been stunned at the difference between the players this year. At USC, the players knew they were studs, acted like studs and had been treated like studs their entire athletic career. Most of them assume that college was is the stepping stone to becoming a first-round NFL pick. After all, when you're the top-ranked player at your position entering school, why assume anything else?

Rutgers players are far more humble. It's the only way I've seen so far that Ray Rice, Sosa, Zuttah, Foster and Greene wouldn't fit in with the equally talented stars at USC.

Now if they could just clone themselves a few times over...