• Locksley of the desert. So you know Ron Zook's reputation as an obsessive, gung ho recruiter? A substantial part of that just left for New Mexico, where longtime Zook assistant Mike Locksley was hired as head coach Monday.

Locksley followed Zook to Illinois from Florida, and according to Rivals' database, he was the main recruiter for Arrelious Benn, the Illini's biggest "get" of Zook's tenure, along with four other four-star or better prospects over the last two years and another D.C. kid, Vontae Davis, who came in as a three-star and will leave this year or next as an all-Big Ten mainstay and one of the top prospects in the draft. Lockley's also credited with closing the deal with Juice Williams.

I doubt you can get those kind of kids in New Mexico. But whatever kind of kids you can get, Locksley seems like a good bet to get them. After that, it's anybody's guess.

• Breaking down Sarkisian. The L.A. Daily News' Scott Wolf caught up with a pro scout who's seen a lot of USC after the Trojans' win over UCLA, and his assessment of the system Steve Sarkisian is taking to Washington isn't very flattering. On one hand, it's kind of ramshackle: "They do a good enough job with good players. They get the guys to line up in the right spots. This is not a well-oiled machine. It's not clean.'' On the other, it can be a little slow on the uptake: ''They're not a great offense. ... They tried to make UCLA adjust early and once they did that, they never adjusted to UCLA's adjustments." Here is your check, Coach Sarkisian.

In the meantime, Sarkisian promised during his introduction in Seattle to find a way to keep Jake Locker running, though word is he tried to lure über-recruit Matt Barkley, a longstanding Trojan commit recruited mainly by Sarkisian, to defect to the Huskies before Barkley enrolls at USC in January. In the same vein, Sark reportedly made a brief overture to UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, an ex-colleague at SC, about accompanying him northward.

He also promised Monday that his Huskies would be "a physical team on and off the field." Off the field? Is he going to try to bring Jerramy Stevens and Jeremiah Pharms back into the fold?

• Senseless tragedy in Mississippi. An awful, bizarre story from my original neck of the woods, where solid running back recruit Billey Joe Johnson, who had serious interest from every school in a three-state radius, apparently shot himself Monday during a routine traffic stop:

"The deputy was sitting in his patrol vehicle ... when he heard a gunshot and saw the victim laying on the ground by the driver’s side door of the vehicle that Johnson was driving. A shotgun was lying on the victim," according to a statement from the George County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities would not immediately say whether they believed the shooting was a suicide or an accident.

An investigation has been ordered, obviously, but I can't imagine any report making sense of a promising 17-year-old's demise on the side of a road.

Quickly ... Jan Kemp, an English professor who drew some national notoriety when she was fired at Georgia for refusing to inflate athletes' grades in the mid-1980s, died of Alzheimer's Disease at age 59. ... Turner Gill interviewed for the Auburn job on Monday, as did Patrick Nix, with Ball State's Brady Hoke on deck. And is Jimbo Fisher saying there's a chance? ... Skip Holtz remains the favorite, but New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone confirmed a visit with Syracuse about the Orange's coaching vacancy. ... Phil Fulmer's vague, temporary new job: assistant to the UT president. ... Ex-blue chip Vidal Hazelton has obtained his release from USC and is considering a half-dozen schools, including Texas Tech. Penn State is not among them, oddly, as Hazelton's dad reportedly wanted him to be a Lion out of prep school. ... Oklahoma State receiver Jeremy Broadway, owner of the longest reception in school history in the Cowboys' win over Iowa State, was kicked off the team for the ever-popular violation of team rules. ... Uh, duh. ... And who, exactly, called Oklahoma's wins over Missouri a 'fluke,' Sam?