California. Texas. Florida. The big three states in college football recruiting are recruited by almost every school, regardless of distance. And often, whoever controls those states is near the top of the college football world.
USC poised to dominate football recruiting in California
With a full set of scholarships, the Trojans are recruiting just like they used to.
Stephen Dunn
California has 40 blue-chip prospects (four- or five-stars) this year according to the 247Sports Composite, and 23 are currently verbally committed.
USC and UCLA dominate
As usual, USC leads with six California blue chips, including quarterback Ricky Town and defensive tackle Jacob Daniel. Now with a full quiver of scholarships, USC looks to again be the best recruiting team in the West -- 13 of its 17 commitments are from California, as well.
The team with the next-most players committed from California is UCLA, with four. The headliners are quarterback Josh Rosen and offensive lineman Tevita Halalilo. Surprisingly, Cal and Stanford have zero blue chips committed.
Only 10 of the 23 committed blue chips from California are pledged to California schools (44 percent). That's actually in line with the percentages of recent years, including 2014 (41 percent), 2013 (49 percent) and 2012 (54 percent). These numbers are close to what has been going on lately in the state of Florida. The other 13 committed blue chips are pledged to nine schools and only three of those schools are in the Pac-12.
The leader in the out-of-state recruiting is unsurprisingly Oregon, with three top commits, including quarterback Travis Waller and running back Malik Lovette. Arizona State and Duke have two apiece, while Tennessee, Alabama, Washington, Florida, Miami and Notre Dame have one each.
Still to come
Let’s take a look at some of the top prospects remaining, and where they might end up.
- Five-star Iman Marshall, the cornerback from Long Beach Poly, has not yet set up any official visits, and I don’t know a single recruiting analyst who believes he’ll spurn USC.
- Five-star defensive tackle Rasheem Green, of Gardena Junipero Serra, is expected to choose USC over UCLA, Oregon, Miami and Oklahoma. Serra is a major pipeline for the Trojans.
- Five-star linebacker John Houston, of Serra, is expected to pick USC, with Oregon also in the mix.
- Five-star defensive end Keisean Lucier-South, of Orange Lutheran, is a battle between Oregon and UCLA.
- Four-star safety Marvell Tell, of Encino Crespi, is a classic battle between USC and UCLA.
- Four-star safety DeChaun Holiday, of San Marcos Mission Hills, will be an interesting battle, with UCLA likely having the lead over USC, Oklahoma and Oregon.
- Four-star receiver Trent Irwin, of Newhall Hart, is an intense battle between Arizona State and Stanford.
- Four-star athlete Stanley Norman, of Serra, is a tough read and has a huge number of schools involved.
- Four-star receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, of Anaheim Servite, seems to be favoring Notre Dame over UCLA and others.
- Four-star defensive back Frank Buncom IV, of San Diego St. Augustine, is likely to pick Stanford over Oklahoma and Notre Dame.
USC coming
USC is in the driver’s seat for a number of the state’s top remaining targets, and it’s possible that the Trojans could more than double their number of in-state blue chip commitments, perhaps ending up with as many as 15 come National Signing Day. That could double any other school’s California haul.
Most expected that USC would again be scary once it got all of its scholarships back, and with the Trojans’ in-state momentum plus their out-of-state prowess, USC could be on its way to a top-five class in its first year back with full scholarships.
The Trojans having full scholarships, along with UCLA having a nice year on the field, could mean that California schools get back to keeping more than half of the state’s elite prospects from leaving.
