Top athletes across four sports commit to USC


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Photo of exterior of Galen Center. the building is red and grey and there are trees in front of it.
Men’s basketball now has the No. 4 best 2022 recruiting class after receiving commitments from Vincent Iwuchukwu and Kijani Wright, two of the top-40 recruits in the nation. (Beth Mosch | Daily Trojan file photo)

On National Signing Day, USC strengthened five of its teams after commitments from high school athletes across the country. The Trojans have new additions to men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s golf and men’s tennis.

Here are some key names:

Men’s Basketball

Vincent Iwuchukwu and Kijani Wright will join men’s basketball as members of USC’s 2022 recruiting class, which is projected to rank No. 5 in the country by 247Sports. 

Iwuchukwu, who attends Montverde Academy in Florida, plays center and stands at 7-feet tall and 225 pounds. Iwuchukwu played for La Lumiere in Indiana last season and averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game while ranked as the No. 11 recruit by ESPN. Iwuchukwu is a consensus five-star recruit and a top-15 national recruit in the Class of 2022. 

Playing his first three seasons of high school basketball at Windward School in Los Angeles Wright now plays at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif. Wright is a 6-foot-9 and 235-pound forward who specializes in rebounding and is ranked No. 37 nationally by ESPN and No. 38 by 247Sports.com. 

Wright won a gold medal in Belem, Brazil in 2019 after starting all six games for the USA U16 National Team that went undefeated. Wright did not play much his junior year because of coronavirus restrictions, but as a sophomore at Windward, he averaged 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and led his team 28-8 record along with a No. 27 national ranking. 

Women’s Volleyball

USC signed three of the nation’s top recruits on Wednesday. The Trojans signed Adonia Faumuina from Long Beach Poly High School, Jordan Middleton from Hamilton High School and Gala Trubint from Scripps Ranch High School. Faumuina is a 6-foot-1 right-side hitter and setter and the No. 7 ranked volleyball recruit, according to PrepVolleyball.com. 

She is a two-time All-Moore League selection and won the league’s MVP award in 2019. Faumuina was selected to the U19 USA Volleyball Summer Training Team and tabbed for the USAV Junior A1 squad as a sophomore.

Middleton is 6-foot-2 outside hitter and the nation’s No. 2 ranked recruit on PrepVolleyball.com. Middleton was the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year in 2021 and a 2020 Volleyball Magazine first-team All-American. Middleton was also selected to the 2021 U.S Women’s National Team and a two-time All-6A Conference first-team choice. She will replace graduate outside hitters Brooke Botkin, Shannon Scully and Paige Hammons and senior Brooklyn Schirmer.

Trubint is a 5-foot-8 libero and the No. 90 ranked recruit by PrepVolleyball.com. In addition to being named to the AVCA High School All-America first team, she is a three-time All-Western League selection. She was also selected to the AAU All-America watchlist and helped lead her team to a second-place finish at the Junior Olympics in the USA division and a third-place finish at the 2020 17 Elite Triple Crown.

Golf

Men’s golf landed one of the top recruits in the country in junior Mahanth Chirravuri. Chirravuri is the No. 11 ranked recruit by the Rolex and AJGA rankings and the No. 1 recruit in Arizona. He won an Arizona state title in 2020 at 10-under and led his high school to state team titles in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Women’s golf signed juniors Amari Avery and Catherine Park. Avery played in some of the biggest stages in golf with appearances in the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the 2021 Women’s U.S. Open. She also received medalist honors at the 2019 California Women’s Amateur and played in the 2021 LPGA Founder’s Cup. Avery is the second-ranked senior in the Golfweek rankings and a four-time Rolex All-American.

Park is the eighth-ranked senior in the Golfweek rankings and a two-time Rolex All-American. She reached match play at the 2021 Women’s North & South Amateur and the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She placed third at the 2019 Swinging Skirts AJGA Invitational and eighth at the 2019 Rolex Tournament of Champions.

Men’s Tennis

Ryan Colby is the latest tennis player to commit to USC and will join the Trojans in January 2022. He currently ramls as No. 82 in the ITF World Rankings and the No. 2 player in the 18’s, according to the USTA. 

Colby competed in the 18s National Clay Championships while also claiming the 18s National UTR Clay Court title this year. He is a top-seven ranked player in the country and was the Junior Tennis Champions Center Men’s College Connect champion in 2019.