How USC found its first line of defense, Brandon Pili, in the final frontier, Alaska

Kenechi Udeze wrapped frigid fingers around his phone and snapped a video. The rest of USC's coaching staff needed to understand where he was.

Udeze was cold, very, very cold. He could see only white. He was in the dark.

He was in Alaska in the winter.

It was not a typical recruiting destination. The state remains maybe the last corner of the country largely unmined by major college football programs. But Udeze, USC's defensive line coach, had seen a 6-foot-4, 300-plus-pound defensive tackle from Anchorage play. He had seen him move. So he packed warm clothes