USC Recruiting Roundup with Scott Schrader & Dylan Brashier (8/1)

Each week me and our impressive intern from USC’s Anneneberg School of Communications hop on Zoom. At that time we recap some of the interesting USC storylines of the week for our YouTube audience. 

Our primary focus is on recruiting, but we’ll also touch on other topics each week.

In this WeAreSC Recruiting Roundup Scott Schrader and Dylan Brashier discuss a number of the recent official visitors to take their trips to the USC campus….and much more.

Recent recruiting visits from top 2025 & 2026 prospects

Although USC won’t be hosting any official visitors or even a large group of unofficial visitors this weekend, they had top 2025 linebacker target Noah Mikhail and his family on campus Friday for practice. Fall Practice No. 1 was at 6:30am PT this morning, so Mikhail and family were up extremely early. 

The Friday visit was Mikhail’s sixth in 2023, so obviously interest is extremely serious with with USC. There’s been a strong bond formed at USC with not only Mikhail, but also his family. More importantly, there’s a very solid relationship between Annie Hanson and Mikhail’s family.

Mikhail said he’s been able to talk to a few of the USC players. But he’s looking to drill down on that a bit to get a full sense of the USC experience from them. There’s one player in particular with whom he’s looking to establish a connection.

“I’m trying to get in contact with Tackett Curtis,” Mikhail said, adding some specifics about what he’s looking to understand from the players. “How the vibe is in the locker room with all the coaches. How schooling is. There’s a lot of things outside of just the football part, even though the football part is a big part of it.”

The eventual connection with Curtis won’t be a coincidence. It’s a name that gets brought up often to Mikhail from the USC coaches.

“They really compare us a lot,” Mikhail said. “I watched his film and in high school, we played kind of the same position.”

Notable USC Visitors this Weekend

As mentioned above, the visitor list won’t be long with onset of USC Fall Camp this weekend, but there will be a few younger prospects at Saturday’s morning practice. Three 2025 prospects at the very top off the list will be back on campus, as will two top 2026 targets from Oaks Christian. 

Manasse Itete flips from USC to Florida State

July continues to hit USC on the chin as the Trojans have lost a commitment from Modesto (Calif.) Central Catholic four-star offensive tackle Manassee Itete. He went to Twitter to announce his decision. 

The 6-foot-4.5, 290-pound is the No. 354 overall prospect and No. 24 offensive tackle in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 31 player in California.

On3 rates Itete significantly higher than other recruiting services, according to the Industry Comparison. Per the 2024 On300, Itete is the No. 206 overall prospect in the country, the No. 19 offensive tackle and No. 16 player in California.

Itete was committed to USC for just under two months, originally committing on June 7. 

His decision to open his recruitment comes as insiders around the industry are feeling that Florida State is now the team to beat in his recruitment.

USC cornerback commitment Dakoda Fields visiting Oregon

Level of confidence Dakoda Fields wears cardinal and gold in 2024?

Based off what I heard Saturday night, I’d say confidence is much lower than it was on Friday (7/28).

USC offers Linebackers Devin Smith and Michael Boganowski

Brunswick (Ga.) three-star 2024 linebacker Devin Smith has picked up an offer from USC. He announced the news via Twitter. 

The offer is the second to be extended to a 2024 linebacker in as many days. 

Smith is the No. 601 overall prospect and No. 63 linebacker in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 68 player in Georgia.

 The offer is an intriguing one as Smith trimmed his list to five schools earlier this month.  Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, LSU, and Kentucky were among the group. 

What is interesting in the recruitment of Smith is that he has taken 25 visits to 16 different schools, yet none of them have been official visits. He has only utilized unofficial visits, which means his recruitment is likely to carry on for some time, if he does plan to take official visits. 

Despite his ranking being in the 600’s, Smith holds a very impressive offer list of 35 programs. Among those are LSU, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Miami, Ohio State, Michigan, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Florida State, Tennessee, UCF, and others. 

The Brunswick standout measures in at a stout 6-foot-3, 220 pounds. In 20 games plays on varsity, Smith has racked up 124 total tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, five fumble recoveries, and four forced fumbles.