Lincoln Riley gives first impression of five-star recruit Duce Robinson after commitment

USC signed a top-10 recruiting class in 2023 and one of the prized gets happened late in the cycle when dual-sport athlete Duce Robinson verbally committed with a plan to play both football and baseball.

Robinson is a five-star prospect who was rated the No. 23 overall recruit in his class, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound tight end from Phoenix, Ariz.

How he fits into USC’s plans next season remains to be seen, but head coach Lincoln Riley certainly envisions him having a role.

“Some of that will be getting him here, kind of finishing our evaluations of the players that are here this spring,” Riley said. “Obviously getting him and Ja’Kobi (Lane) here and anybody else that becomes a part of that room, kind of seeing what the overall skill looks like and then trying to find the place where we feel like he can come in and give us the best advantages and make the biggest impact.”

Duce Robinson is unlikely to be a pure tight end in the in-line sense, suited more for being a matchup nightmare as a receiving option. But he’ll be able to line up in various spots across the formation to give defenses trouble.

And depending on how quickly he gets up to speed he could be a nice additional weapon for Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Caleb Williams.

“I certainly don’t see him as a tight end. He’s a guy you could I think conceivably do a lot of things with, which has been our excitement in recruiting him,” Riley said. “I mean I’ve known Duce for almost four years, that was a three-and-a-half year recruitment. So I’ve gotten to know him very well, we’ve gotten to see his body really evolve and change a lot from Day 1. He’s really kind of leaned out. His running, he’s just gotten faster and more agile as the years have gone on, because he’s always been pretty big.”

USC has recruited several prospects that are very big and can catch passes.

Lane is a 6-foot-5 target from Arizona as well, while four-star tight end Walker Lyons, a 6-foot-5 tight end, also signed with USC in the 2023 class.

But Duce Robinson is different from the others.

“He’s a unique skillset, man, that we obviously were fired up to add it to a good group right now,” Riley said. “I mean he’s not going to be an every-down, on-the-ball tight end, I think we know that, no question. So I would imagine he’s a guy we’d have the opportunity to move around and do some unique things with because from a matchup standpoint you can go out recruiting four or five years and not see that combination. It’s a very unique combination of a skillset that he has, then on top of it just a tremendous person, great family.”

It definitely doesn’t sound like ego will be much of an issue for Duce Robinson, judging by Riley’s comments about him.

“He’s the kid that in the age of all these big announcements he drops a video and he’s in the weight room with his dad and his family working out while it drops,” Riley said. “Like we weren’t even able to talk to him. That’s just him. Not flashy, great kid. His parents have done a great job with him and he’s obviously got some cool things coming up and we’re obviously thrilled that we get to be the ones that do this next step with him.”