In the months of June and July, Lincoln Riley and his staff have certainly been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes, considering the early USC commits elevated them to the 5th-ranked class for 2024. The only programs ranked ahead of the Trojans are Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, and last year’s champions, Georgia. This is a good sign seeing that it’s still very early in the USC recruiting cycle and unless recruits flip their commitment the number is only going to grow going into next year. Let’s take a look at this USC commits class that is already shaping up to be a nice haul.
2 Sierra Canyon Commitments
USC football hit big in their backyard with six recruits coming from California and five out of the six are from the Los Angeles area. They managed to grab a pair of four-star teammates from Sierra Canyon High School in Xavier Jordan and Marquis Gallegos. Jordan, currently the 11th-ranked wide receiver in the nation, had 20 touchdowns, over 1600 yards receiving, and averaged around 125 yards a game in his junior year playing for Cathedral High School. Jordan transferred this summer to play his senior year at Sierra Canyon.
Gallegos, the 20th-ranked safety in the nation, also decided to transfer and play his senior year at Sierra Canyon, Gallegos played his junior year for Chaminade High School and had 96 tackles, 11 passes defended, and seven interceptions. Both athletes are around 6’1 170 pounds with room to add muscle to their frames.
3 Four-Star Athletes
Staying in California the Trojans also picked up three other four-star athletes; Ryan Pellum, Dakoda Fields, and Marcelles Williams. Pellum is the 14th-ranked wide receiver in the nation played at Millikan High School in Long Beach, CA where he scored 10 touchdowns, 1000 yards receiving, and averaged 114 receiving yards a game.
Fields is the 9th ranked cornerback nationally and played his junior year at Serra High School played only half the season and had 6 passes defended with 15 tackles.
The prospect I’m most intrigued by is Marcelles Williams. His brother is 5th year senior, Max Williams. Marcelles Williams played his junior season with the Southern Califonia powerhouse Saint John Bosco. SJB is known to produce countless Division 1 players and has four current NFL players in the league. Williams racked up 46 tackles, four passes defended, and two interceptions. It’s tough to project where these receivers and defensive backs will end up on the depth chart given how deep both rooms are already.
Picking SEC’s Pocket
USC has also been picking up steam in states such as Georgia and Florida. They have gotten commitments from three four-star athletes, as well as a three-star athlete. Now stars are negligible, however, it’s still impressive considering the universities in those states are massive draws for good football players and they also recruit local prospects exceptionally well. Kameryn Fountain and Walter Matthews both have NFL size as juniors in high school. Fountain is a defensive end, standing 6’6 and weighing in at 240 lbs. Walter Mathews is 6’7 240. Size doesn’t automatically equal production, however, if the talent matches the measurables these two are “huge” recruits for USC when the Trojans move to the Big 10.
Other USC Commits To Watch
Other notable names are a pair of four star offensive linemen. Jason Zandamela, a four-star interior lineman who’s 6’3, 290 lbs, coming out of Florida, and Manasse Itete, an offensive tackle from Modesto, CA standing in around 6’5, 290 lbs.
It’s clear the recruiting of wide receivers and secondary will not be slowing down for the Trojans anytime soon, nevertheless, it looks like recruiting athletes with size and strength on both sides of the ball is now a focal point for Lincoln Riley and his staff.