USC adds final touches to recruiting class 

All rankings in this article are according to the 247 Sports Composite.

Although Early Signing Day in December was quiet for the Trojans, USC was able to land two important signings on National Signing Day Wednesday to bring their total number of high school signees to 21. Those signatures came from 4-star wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane and 4-star tight end Walker Lyons. 

Lane has been verbally committed to the Trojans since Aug. 26 but did not sign to play with the Trojans until NSD. Playing high school ball in Arizona, there were rumors Lane would flip his commitment to Arizona State once they hired Kenny Dillingham as their new head coach. However, Head Coach Lincoln Riley and the rest of the USC football staff were able to quell the rumors and land Lane’s signature.

USC has already signed 5-star wide receiver Zachariah Branch and 4-star wide receiver Makai Lemon, meaning Lane is the lowest-ranked of the three. However, this is still an important signature for the Trojans, as they have already lost junior wide receiver Jordan Addison to the NFL draft and four other wide receivers to the transfer portal.

Lyons, on the other hand, was never verbally committed to the Trojans until he signed his papers on Feb. 1. Originally, he verbally committed to Stanford on July 23 but decommitted on Nov. 28 after David Shaw resigned as head coach. 

USC did not land a commitment from a tight end in last year’s recruiting class, which makes Lyons’ commitment to the Trojans even more important. Lyons is a Latter-day Saint and will be making a mission trip during the 2023 season, meaning he will not suit up for the Trojans until the 2024 season. The Trojans will have to rely on tight end Lake McRee, who will be a redshirt sophomore next year, since Lyons will not be on the roster next season.

Since Lane had been committed to the Trojans before he signed, he was already included in USC’s recruiting score. But the addition of Lyons vaulted the Trojans up the recruiting rankings when he announced his signing. Before Lyons was locked in with USC, the Trojans ranked No. 15 in the high school recruiting rankings, but the tight end was able to bump the Trojans all the way up to No. 12, vaulting them over Penn State, Florida and Texas A&M.

Due to the lack of tight end depth behind McRee for next season, USC is still in the hunt for another top tight end. Five-star tight end Duce Robinson is the highest-ranked tight end in this recruiting cycle but has not yet made a decision about where he will be playing. That’s if he even plays football at the collegiate level.

Robinson has had a tricky recruitment since he is also a highly-rated baseball prospect. There are many factors that go into recruiting these days, including location, program, academics and NIL, and Robinson has that extra factor. He did not sign on NSD, meaning college coaches will have to wait even longer to find out where the tight end will end up playing.

Although the Trojans were able to sign two players on NSD, they missed out on a third to a Pac-12 opponent. 4-star cornerback Rodrick Pleasant went to high school at nearby Junipero Serra and was deciding between USC, Oregon, UCLA, UC Berkeley and Boston College, according to his personal Instagram. On Feb. 1, he announced he would be going to Oregon instead of staying close to home. Similar to Robinson, Pleasant is not only a football prospect but a track prospect as well, which may have factored into his decision. 

Pleasant is now the fifth high school prospect Oregon has poached from USC’s backyard in this recruiting cycle, joining 4-star defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei, 4-star cornerback Daylen Austin, 3-star athlete Solomon Davis and 3-star offensive lineman Lipe Moala.

This is a tough loss for the Trojans, not only because he is so local, but also because USC only has two defensive back commits from high school prospects this cycle. USC is still in contention for 4-star safety Warren Roberson, who is currently committed to TCU. However, he won’t  announce his commitment until Feb. 3 at the earliest because of an ice storm in Texas. He will be signing with TCU, USC or Texas, according to his personal Twitter. Signing Roberson would lower concerns about USC and its defensive back depth.

Even though USC’s high school recruiting class sits outside the top 10, their overall recruiting class, which includes transfer portal players and high school players, ranks at No. 8 in CFB, which is the highest in the Pac-12.

After spring ball, more players will enter the transfer portals and highly-ranked high school players, like Robinson, are still available. This will likely mean more movement in the rankings, but as things stand, Lincoln Riley and Co. brought in a top-10 class in their first full recruiting cycle at USC.