The first time Carson Palmer met Pete Carroll?

"He blew me away," said Palmer, who saw his collegiate career at USC teetering before Carroll arrived at Southern California.

Justin Fargas was so impressed with Carroll he transferred to the school he initially eschewed after three years at Michigan, just to join him for one last dance at USC.

Same-but-different thing with Frostee Rucker, who first went to Colorado State before transferring to USC to play for Carroll.

And Brice Butler, who went to play for Carroll at USC out of high school, transferred to San Diego State after Carroll left school for the pros.

The quartet has a unique perspective on what Carroll is stepping into in his first season as head coach of the Raiders. Palmer, Fargas, Rucker and Butler are among 13 former Trojans who not only played for Carroll at USC, but also became Raiders in their respective NFL careers.

So what, exactly, has Carroll signed up for in joining the Silver and Black?

"Pete is stepping into a situation where we'll be able to see his pure genius," said Rucker, the Raiders' Craig Long Award winner in 2018, the defensive end's lone season with the team.

"His skills of building a program are purposeful. He's energetic enough, but he's also wise and passionate enough to turn things around. He's a Super Bowl-winning coach and a national champion."

Indeed, Carroll's Trojans won back-to-back nattys in 2003 and 2004 and his Seahawks won the Super Bowl after the 2013 season and was infamously one yard away from repeating, against the Patriots (cue new Raiders minority owner Tom Brady winking at Carroll).

Fargas, meanwhile, is one of 17 USC players drafted by the Raiders - the school from which the team has drafted the most players in franchise history - and was a third-round draft pick in 2003, less than four months after the Trojans blew out Iowa in the Orange Bowl and finished ranked fourth in the nation.

He sees an intersecting storyline for Carroll and the Raiders.

"It's an ideal situation," Fargas said. "It mirrors the opportunity he took when he came to USC - a storied organization with a great tradition, and a fan base yearning to get back on top."

Yeah, that sounds more than familiar, right, Raider Nation?

Not that Carroll, who co-taught a class entitled "The Game is Life" this spring at USC's Marshall School of Business, needed an orientation course on the ways and means of Silver and Blackdom.

Far from it.

Because while Carroll grew up in the Bay Area's Marin County a fan of the 49ers, he respected the Raiders, who then called Oakland home.

"Al Davis' effect on the game of football, and his approach, it was just across the Richmond Bridge," he said. "The Raiders, it was like home base. It's been more thrilling to be a part of it than it has been a transition, or [trying to] figure it out.

"Al had principles about the way he built a program. He had his concepts and he had his approach. … I do, too, and there's a lot of crossover. Even the style of players we like to play with is very similar."

Carroll laughed, and this is where we mention that Davis was a USC assistant from 1957-59, yes?

Paging the height, weight and speed guys, then.

Guys like the statuesque Palmer, who jumpstarted his college career to win the Heisman Trophy in Year 2 under Carroll and rode it to becoming the NFL's No. 1 draft pick in 2003. And the speedy Butler, who authored a 4.37-second 40-time.

Palmer, acquired by the Raiders in what then-coach Hue Jackson called the "greatest trade in football" in 2011, spent two seasons with the Raiders and was transfixed by what he experienced.

"It's unlike any other place I've ever been," he said. "That fanbase is world wide."

And hungry. For, as Fargas said, success.

Palmer believes Carroll can do with the Raiders what he did in Seattle - get them to a Super Bowl.

"It was a no-brainer on the Raiders' end to get that quality and experience," said Palmer, who plans to utilize some of the skills he gleaned from Carroll as a first-time head coach at his old high school, Santa Margarita Catholic High School in southern California's Orange County.

"He's been there, done that. Had success on every level. He's the perfect guy for the job. I'm happy for Raider Nation; I'm ecstatic for him."

Butler caught passes as a receiver for just one season under Carroll at USC, two for Lane Kiffin, before transferring to San Diego State. The Raiders drafted him in the seventh round in 2013.

The Pete Carroll he played for in 2009 is the Pete Carroll the Raiders are getting in 2025, Butler said.

"He always brings high energy," Butler said. "He's not short of energy, or charisma."

But while Carroll is known sport-wide for his infectious personality, Palmer, Fargas, Rucker and Butler all said he does not get enough credit for his X's and O's…while mixing in those omnipresent feel-good atta-boys.

Or did you miss Carroll "pinning" Thayer Munford during a recent stretch period?

"He's so intellectual," Palmer said of Carroll. "He showed me how to attack opposing coverages, but also how he handled negativity. He's brilliant. He's so gifted and talented. He can sprinkle in all the things he's seen."

Palmer spent the last five years of his career with the Cardinals, in the same division as Carroll's Seahawks.

"What he did in Seattle, I saw it first hand in Arizona," said Palmer, who went 3-2-1 against Carroll in the NFC West.

"He can adapt or change without going through a down or rebuilding year. He's not a one-trick pony. He's so good on so many levels."

Said Rucker: "He keeps it easy and lets people play. It's a consistent model. I admire the guy. He's a great philosopher of the game. I'm looking forward to seeing him shake his crooked finger."

They throw up a "V" for "Victory" with their pointer and middle fingers at USC games and the crooked-fingered Carroll was adept at providing many for the Trojans in his star-crossed career there.

Palmer and Co. are hoping the seeming-cross pollination between USC and the Raiders breeds similar success.

Fargas sees it happening. So much so that he is joining Carroll's staff with the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program to help with the running backs, and, yes, he's already studied up on first-round pick Ashton Jeanty.

"He's always been a great defensive mind, been known as a great coordinator," Fargas, who spent his entire seven-year career with the Raiders and rushed for 1,009 yards in 2007, said of Carroll.

"But he trusted and gave leeway to [the offensive coaches to] run their offenses."

Fargas initially verbally committed to USC out of high school but pivoted to Michigan when John Robinson was fired. Carroll arrived and so, too, did Fargas.

"It was a new beginning for me, and same for coach," Fargas said. "From what I've seen, he's already a better version of himself."

The Carroll Era at USC got off to a slow start - the Trojans were 1-4 through five games in 2001, 2-5 through seven - before reeling off four straight wins to gain a Las Vegas Bowl berth. At Sam Boyd Stadium, they lost to Utah, 10-6, and Palmer threw for just 150 yards on 15-of-26 passing while getting sacked four times.

Yes, that first season began and ended with a thud, but the die was cast.

"He brought in all the USC greats to meet us and talk with us," Palmer said of Carroll. "He taught us, showed us who played here, who wore the uniforms and who played on that field before us.

"He flipped everything."

For the better.

And now, a weary Raider Nation awaits.