Matt Kalil is the first Trojan out for the ?12 Draft. Now: Who?s going with him?

It's not the decision everyone is waiting for out of USC, but it may be just as big: Left tackle Matt Kalil is the first Trojan to announce that he's skipping his senior season for the NFL, telling the Los Angeles Times that he wants to take advantage of "a special opportunity" to leave as a likely top-five pick in next April's draft.

With that, a legitimate national contender in 2012 loses a former five-star recruit who made good with 26 consecutive starts and nods on four major All-America teams this season as the anchor of a line that led the nation in sacks allowed. (If you don't want to take the media's word for it, he was also voted as the Pac-12's best offensive lineman by the league's starting defensive linemen.) As a fifth-year senior, Kalil would have been one of the few remaining links to the Trojans' last championship season in 2008. Even with the rest of the line returning intact, his exit is a major, above-the-fold loss for the offense.

But it comes with an unavoidable followup: Who's going with him? Defensive end Nick Perry hasn't said anything publicly, but he has reportedly signed with an agent after leading the Pac-12 in sacks and turning himself into a likely first-rounder in the process. Junior safety T.J. McDonald is near the top of the board at his position. And of course, there's golden boy quarterback Matt Barkley, whose spectacular November secured his status as the Face of College Football in 2012 ?a hyped star in a major market who combines Tim Tebow's faith and Andrew Luck's pro prospects ? if he can resist the lure of NFL millions.

That's a much tougher proposition when it means coming back to a new protector on his blind side, and as of a few weeks ago, Kalil seemed to think he and his quarterback were a package deal:

The Matts will decide separately, but Kalil anticipates a "chain reaction" that will result in the "double package" either moving on or staying put.

"We either both leave or we both stay," he said recently. "I think that's the way it will play out."

Said Barkley: "I think [Kalil's decision] would be a big factor but not a definite yes or a definite no."

Not long after that, Barkley said he's "still 50-50" on whether to stay or go. If the scales were balanced before, they may have just tipped toward the latter.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Matt-Kalil-is-the-first-Trojan-out-for-the-12-D?urn=ncaaf-wp11575

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