This Week in USC Recruiting
It’s the beginning of the recruiting dead period today and we saw a flurry of activity over the last week with the Trojans with a verbal commit, official and unofficial visits and offers to several underclassmen.
The verbal commit came from WR Puka Nacua from Utah, a savvy and quick player who put up huge numbers last season while leading his team to a state title. There are good family genes at play here too as both of his older brothers played college and one is in the NFL now. Puka chose USC over Utah, BYU and Washington, and is the second WR commit in the class along with Munir McClain from JSerra.
In the middle of last week we saw a pair of highly ranked unofficial visitors from the class of 2020 in offensive linemen Paris Johnson and Gelrean Hatchett. Johnson (6-7, 285) from Cincinnati, OH is ranked as the #8 player overall in the class and the #2 OT, and he is also looking at Ohio State, Michigan State and Stanford, among others. Hatchett (6-5, 275) from Ferndale, WA is currently ranked as the #7 OG in the nation and he is also showing interest in Washington, Stanford, Oklahoma and Alabama.
The USC coaches held their final recruit camp with the second edition of the Elite camp, and we saw multiple offers to underclassmen following the camp.
Centennial WR Gary Bryant (5-10, 160) is one of the most electrifying players in the area and he’s ranked as the #10 athlete in the nation for the class of 2020 with offers from Oregon, Washington and Florida on his list. WR John Humphreys (6-5, 210) from Corona Del Mar is ranked at #57 for his position in the class of 2020 and he also holds early offers from Stanford, Cal and UCLA. Seth Figgins (6-6, 225) from Westlake is a class of 2020 TE with offers from Texas, Oregon and Utah. WR Koy Moore (6-1, 170) from Louisiana is the #25 player at his position for the class of 2020 and he also has offers from Florida, Georgia and LSU. There was also an offer to a local 2021 receiver in Christian Dixon (6-3, 180) from Diamond Ranch, who also has an offer from Nevada. Finally, it’s rare that the Trojans offer an underclass kicker but there was an offer made to 2020 K/P Parker Lewis (6-3, 200) from Saguaro in Arizona.
The USC coaches finished off the week by hosting an official visit weekend for an impressive group of recruits.
The St. John Bosco duo of Chris Steele (#5 corner who will likely end up at safety) and Jude Wolfe (#9 tight end) were both on the trip as they have college announcements coming up soon (July 7th for Steele, August 3rd for Wolfe). Steele (photo above) has looked around with a lot of interest shown in schools like Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and UCLA but most projections have him ending up a Trojan when all is said and done. Wolfe has long been considered a USC lean and spent a lot of time on the visit meeting with the Marshall Business School folks as he plans on being a business major in college.
There was no shortage of big men on the trip either, led by the #3 ranked OT in the nation in Devontae Dobbs (6-4, 305) from Michigan, who is also looking at Michigan State and Auburn. On the defensive side of the line there was Siaki Ika (6-2, 245) from Utah, the #11 DT who is also looking at Alabama and Washington, along with Laiatu Latu (6-5, 240) from Jesuit in Sacramento, who is the #11 OLB and is also considering Stanford, Alabama, Georgia and Cal, and Joshua Pakola (6-3, 255) from St. Francis in Northern California, and the #11 DE is also looking at Stanford, Georgia, Notre Dame and Oregon. There was also a visit from Purdue commit DE George Karlaftis, the #6 DE, and CB Erick Young from Texas.
Amazing official to Usc!! No words can express the feelings I have after this visit. So much love from the coaches, staff, and players. Love that this program is so family oriented. Amazing visit. Happy Birthday Coach Helton??? FightOn✌? pic.twitter.com/6gNbOowP8o
— TuTu ? (@LaiatuLatu48) June 25, 2018
WeAreSC Recruiting Podcast: Garry Paskwietz and Randy Taylor talk USC Recruiting
