2022 USC Recruiting: Wide receiver

If the recent past is any indication, USC could be in line to sign a very impressive group of wide receivers in this 2022 class. In the 2016 class, USC signed four four-star wide receiver prospects and six recruits overall who played wide receiver at times for the Trojans. Three years later, in the 2019 class, the Trojans landed another major haul at the position, signing five-star Bru McCoy along with four-star prospects Kyle Ford and Drake London, as well as Munir McClain.

And now three years after that, USC is looking at potentially putting together another big time group of wide receivers, coming in after the Trojans signed a four-star receiver in each of the past two classes, in addition to a few intriguing prospects.

2021 wide receiver signees: 4

4-star Kyron Ware-Hudson (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei)

3-star Michael Jackson III (Las Vegas/Desert Pines)

3-star Joseph Manjack IV (Tomball, Tex./Memorial)

Transfer K.D. Nixon (DeSoto, Tex./DeSoto/Colorado)

2022 wide receiver commitments: None

2022 wide receiver targets:

5-star Tetairoa McMillan (Anaheim, Calif./Servite)

4-star C.J. Williams (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei)

5-star Kevin Coleman (St. Louis, Mo./St. Mary's)

4-star Jadyn Marshall (Stockton, Calif./St. Mary's)

4-star Tobias Merriweather (Camas, Wash./Union)

4-star Isaiah Sategna (Fayetteville, Ark./Fayetteville)

4-star Kojo Antwi (Suwanee, Ga./Lambert)

4-star Samuel Mbake (Snellville, Ga./Brookwood)

4-star De'Nylon Morrissette (Snellville, Ga./Brookwood)

4-star Evan Stewart (Frisco, Tex./Liberty)

3-star Kevin Green (Mission Hills, Calif./Alemany)

3-star Chris Marshall (Missouri City, Tex./Fort Bend Marshall)

3-star Jay Fair (Rockwall, Tex./Rockwall-Heath)

3-star D.J. Allen (Gladewater, Tex./Gladewater)

Last year was an interesting one as far as USC recruiting wide receivers. There were four elite in-state prospects and it looked for a long time that USC would get none of them. Beaux Collins (Bellflower, Calif./St. John Bosco) made a very early commitment to Clemson and stuck with it, following former high school quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who signed with Clemson in the 2020 class.

Troy Franklin (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton) included USC on one of his first lists of top schools, but left the Trojans out when he began really narrowing things down. He signed with Oregon as part of a phenomenal class of wide receivers for the Ducks.

Xavier Worthy (Fresno, Calif./Central East) was a USC target, but never publicly showed much interest. He looked bound for Oregon but then committed to Michigan, where he stuck, even after taking a late look at Alabama.

Collins, Franklin and Worthy were all top-85 prospects nationally, and all ranked among the top 12 receivers. The fourth elite in-state prospect was Kyron Ware-Hudson, who was committed to Oregon for much of the recruiting cycle before making a late flip to USC.

The Trojans signed three wide receivers and added a fourth in grad transfer K.D. Nixon, but there will be room to bring in a few receivers in this class, as Nixon will exhaust his eligibility after this season and USC could potentially lose Drake London early to the NFL.

As far as the 2022 class of receivers goes, everything starts right at the top of that list of targets, as there are two elite wide receivers at Southern California high schools with which USC is very familiar.

Tetairoa McMillan is the nation's No. 15 overall prospect and the No. 2 wide receiver nationally. He's 6-foot-3, 185 pounds and an absolutely dynamic athlete, as he has the ability to play football, basketball and volleyball at the next level. He doesn't specialize as a wide receiver, as he plays defense as well, but he can do absolutely anything as a wideout. He has a tremendous ability to go up over defenders for the ball and displays great body control on contested or difficult catches. He's also excellent after the catch. If five-star cornerback Domani Jackson (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei) was the must-get local defensive prospect in the 2022 class, McMillan is that guy on offense.

Four-star target C.J. Williams joins McMillan as the two top-five in-state prospects who are still uncommitted. Williams picked up an offer from USC during a summer camp in 2019 and has been a top target ever since. He's a good-sized receiver at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds and he's going to be chased by just about every program in the country. Alabama, Ohio State and Texas will all be worth watching for Williams, as USC hopes it can keep bringing in Mater Dei receivers, after saying goodbye to Amon-Ra St. Brown this offseason but adding Ware-Hudson. Williams is another all-around great wide receiver, sure-handed and a terrific route runner.

USC could stay in state in this class and sign a great group of receivers, as four-star Jadyn Marshall and three-star Kevin Green hold USC offers. USC was the first school to offer Marshall, last spring, while Green is likely an Oregon lean at this point, as his brother is Ducks' cornerback Mykael Wright

But a number of offers have gone out in Texas and it wouldn't be surprising if the Trojans grabbed another receiver from the Lone Star State after signing Joseph Manjack IV out of Texas in the 2021 class.

Chris Marshall picked up an offer from USC last fall and has built an impressive offer sheet. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound prospect is also a standout basketball player and the Trojans have shown they can make that work, with Drake London playing basketball his freshman year and incoming tight end Michael Trigg planning to play both sports. Two of USC's most recent offers at the position have been to Texas prospects, in Jay Fair and D.J. Allen.

Tobias Merriweather looks as though he's headed to Oregon, while many of the Southeast targets will likely sign with SEC schools, with Alabama and Georgia targeting a few of them.