USC emphasizes commitment on letter of intent day
Elijah Newby was the first to lock in pen to paper on Wednesday, and his confirmation said a thousand words in the span of precious few.
The Connecticut linebacker had committed to USC in June, back when this program had a different defensive coordinator and an unblemished record and national championship hopes. And Newby remained committed through December, even as USC’s defense imploded and the Trojans started shuffling their defensive staff. He didn’t waver, head coach Lincoln Riley said on Wednesday. Not for a second.
“I promise to give @uscfb everything I have for the next 3-4 years!” Newby wrote in a social media post on Wednesday morning, the dawn of the early national signing day.
The next 3-4 years. That means something, around USC. It means something to a program that’s seen a slew of once-hyped recruits head for the transfer portal in the last few days. It means something to a program that, as Riley reflected Wednesday, has felt like it’s “starting over” in many ways after a disastrous year — new defensive coordinator, new staffers, new conference.
“If they’ll give us the time and put their effort into it, they will develop at USC,” Riley continued later, lips set and words knife-sharp. “With this staff, it’s not a matter of if. It’s going to happen.”
It was a relatively calm signing day for USC, reflecting a relatively understated class. Long Beach Millikan receiver Ryan Pellum was the only surprise, nonchalantly telling the crowd at a Millikan signing ceremony that he was flipping to Oregon. Otherwise, USC’s 20 other 2024 commits all signed letters of intent, preserving the core of a group with a relatively modest recruiting ranking, depending on your service of choice.
But those signees, and Riley’s confident sermon Wednesday established that USC had a clear philosophical mantra for their ’24 class: in the tumultuous era of the transfer portal that has both consumed and produced a wealth of Trojans, they were looking for guys who would stick. Players who were steadfast in their commitment and committed to developing as Trojans.
“The guys that don’t waver and have a passion for being here,” Riley said, “they’re going to hang in there through the ups and downs, they’re going to develop, and then you’re going to look up and down the line and they’re going to turn into really good players.”
Bruins add depth at QB, offensive line
UCLA coach Chip Kelly welcomed 10 players to the football program Wednesday after they signed their national letters of intent on the first day of the early signing period.
While the Bruins’ class ranks 68th in the country (17th among Big Ten schools) in the 247sports’ composite rankings, the class includes three offensive linemen, two quarterbacks, a running back and a receiver to help address some of the needs on offense. The Bruins also signed two defensive backs and a linebacker.
Mission Viejo’s Mark Schroller, Mount Tahoma’s Marquise Throrpe-Taylor (from Washington) and Lehi High Jensen Somerville (from Utah) were appealing prospects for the Bruins because of their potential versatility along the front line.
“We had a chance to work all three of them out,” Kelly said. “... All three of them are tall and long, which is what we need. They have a frame you can add to and I know coach (Keith) Belton, our strength and condition coach is really excited about all three of those guys because of the frames they’re going to bring into the weight room and then we’ll get them involved in our nutrition program and put the good weight on them.”
Kelly believes they have the body type to play offensive tackle, which he declared as a position of need, but remains open to the idea of them playing guard, having cited previous linemen switching from tackle to guard in the past.
Westwood Xaverian Brothers (Massachusetts) quarterback Henry Hasselbeck was the late addition to the Bruins’ class, committing Tuesday evening before signing with UCLA on Wednesday.
Henry is the son of former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. Kelly is familiar with the Hasselbeck family, but Kelly said that Henry’s father removed himself from the recruiting process early on.