Suffice to say, things have gotten much better for Clay Helton and USC on the football recruiting trail. Much, much better.
By just about any metric, USC last December had its most miserable signing day in the 20-plus-year history of football recruiting services. “A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad signing day,” as we put it. How terrible? 10th in the Pac-12. How horrible? Zero five-stars signed up. How no good? Just two four-stars added. How very bad? Just the fifth class, and second straight under Helton, that finished outside of the Top Ten in two decades.
“We had a very good day today that we’re very happy about,” the beleaguered head coach stated at the time, presumably with a straight face.
Over the past four months or so, USC football has done a recruiting about-face.
On his personal Twitter account Wednesday, Anthony Beavers Jr. announced that he is committing to play for USC football. The California high schooler had originally committed to Oregon in April of last year. As late as early this month, he had a Top Five that consisted of, among others, Arizona State, Michigan State and Virginia Tech.
“I had to go through hard times and dark times to see the light,” the 6-1, 195-pound athlete wrote on Twitter.
I had to go through hard times and dark times to see the light.... pic.twitter.com/qDB3RVJ3Qv
— DreamChaser🏁🏁 (@BeaversAnthony) April 15, 2020
Then, Saturday night, Calen Bullock revealed on Twitter that he, too, has committed to USC. The athlete is rated as the No. 21 prospect regardless of position in the state of California.
Next chapter.... pic.twitter.com/VBwH9EDwJA
— King_bullock3 (@CalenBullock) April 19, 2020
Beavers and Bullock are both four-star 2021 prospects. They are the sixth and seventh four-star prospects to commit to USC football already this cycle. So, if my math is correct, the Trojans now have more than three times as many such commitments as they signed last cycle.
Right now, USC football has the top-ranked 2021 class in the Pac-12. They’re also fifth nationally, ahead of the likes of Michigan (No. 10), Georgia (No. 14), Texas (No. 15), Penn State (No. 17), Florida State (No. 24), LSU (No. 25) and Oklahoma (No. 31).
Oregon incidentally, has the No. 2 Pac-12 class at the moment and the 19th nationally.
