BREAKING: Four Star Alabama Offensive Tackle Carde Smith Commits to USC
Mobile (AL) Williamson HS four-star offensive tackle Carde Smith announced his commitment to the USC Trojans on Monday afternoon.
The 6-foot-6, 295-pound Smith is the nation’s No. 256 overall prospect in the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking. He’s slightly higher than that in the 2025 On3 Rankings, sitting at No. 232 overall and the No. 18 offensive tackle nationally.
Although he grew up an Alabama fan and committed to Auburn early in the process, a June 21-23 USC official visit made a significant impact. The visit led to a decommitment less than a week after visiting Los Angeles.
Smith said he fell in love with USC when he took his official visit over the summer. He said he told his mom during the visit that he didn’t even want to go back home.
“I feel like coach Riley is the best head coach in the game,” Smith said as part of the reason he committed to USC. “Just being in Cali, it’s amazing. It just felt like home to me.”
“They can expect to get a dawg,” Smith said in telling USC fans what they’re getting. “I’m coming.”
The writing seemed to be on the wall when Smith told us he planned to visit USC again during the season. Official visits are always a great time for the guys and their parents, but sometimes the impact is far greater than anticipated. That was the case not only with Smith, but with his mother.
“The USC visit showed me some different things and made USC a real hard push for me to be here,” said Smith. “I’m looking forward to getting back to USC for a game in the Fall.”
Mississippi State pushed hard for the 6-foot-6, 300-pounder and he was actually set for June 22 official visit to Starkville (MS), but he obviously took the USC official visit instead. Smith took his Auburn official with USC commits Julian Lewis and Shamar Arnoux.
Smith did visit Starkville (MS) last weekend, but the impact wasn’t strong enough to sway him from the Trojans.
June 21-23 USC Official Visitors
The weekend Smith took his USC official visit, the Trojans hosted 19 official visitors and last week the Trojans didn’t host official visitors with several June football camps dates on the schedule.
On Friday June 21, 13 top targets arrived in Los Angeles and USC still has a shot with several of the uncommitted prospects.
Elijah Griffin, Jared Smith, Marco Jones, Trajen Odom, Trestin Castro, Daune Morris, Harry Dalton, Phillip Bell, Malachi Goodman, Dee Reddick, Carde Smith and Gus Cordova were among the visitors that final big recruiting weekend in June.
Griffin, Bell and Goodman are the only remaining uncommitted players. While we believe Griffin ends up at Georgia, don’t be surprised if he visits during the season if the Trojans get off to a fast start. USC also had a good shot with Bell, Goodman and may still be in the mix with Reddick.
2025 Commits (16)
The Trojans currently have 16 verbal commits from the class of 2025.
5-star quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis
4-star offensive tackle Carde Smith
3-star interior offensive lineman Willi Wascher
3-star offensive tackle Elijah Vaikona
4-star wide receiver Corey Simms
4-star wide receiver Tanook Hines
4-star wide receiver Romero Ison
4-star running back Harry Dalton
3-star running back Riley Wormley
3-star athlete Daune Morris
4-star edge Hayden Lowe
3-star defensive lineman Gus Cordova
4-star linebacker Matai Tagoa’i
4-star linebacker Jadon Perlotte
4-star cornerback Trestin Castro
3-star cornerback Shamar Arnoux
