Tag: RJ Sermons

USC lands wide receiver commit with familiar name

USC adds a very familiar name to the Trojan football family.

USC football’s 2025 signing class has a late addition. On Monday morning, the Trojans picked up a commitment from three-star wide receiver Cameron Sermons. A native of Rancho Cucamonga, California 247Sports ranks Sermons as the No. 166 athlete in the class of 2025, and the No. 186 player in the state of California. He is not currently ranked by On3, Rivals, or ESPN.

Sermons’s name is a familiar one for USC fans. His younger brother, RJ, is a four-star cornerback committed to the Trojans in the class of 2026. In addition, their father, Rodney Sermons, played at USC in the 1990s.

According to On3, Sermons will join the Trojans as a preferred walk on and enroll at USC in June.

USC’s 2025 recruiting class currently sits at No. 14 in the country, per On3’s rankings. That is solid, but not nearly what was expected out of Lincoln Riley when the Trojans paid top dollar to hire him away from Oklahoma three years ago. Three years in, Riley has yet to sign a top-five class at USC—which was the expectation when he was hired.

USC lands four-star cornerback commit

There’s one. USC gets a high-end 2026 cornerback as Doug Belk continues to do a lot of good work on the trail.

On Friday, USC football landed a commitment from four-star cornerback RJ Sermons.

A native of Rancho Cucamonga, California, On3 Consensus ranks Sermons as the No. 32 overall player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 2 cornerback in his class, and the No. 32 player in the state of California.

Sermons chose the Trojans over Oregon, Washington, and Notre Dame.

Landing Sermons is a big early victory for defensive backs coach Doug Belk in the 2026 cycle. The Trojans now have seven players committed in the 2026 cycle, giving them the No. 2 class in the country.

Given how quickly things change in today’s world of college football, however, holding onto that class for the next 12 months will bring along its own set of challenges. Whether or not USC is able to do so could ultimately determine the direction of Lincoln Riley’s tenure.

The Trojans have to build roster depth for the future. This is not a 2025 pickup, but it does point the way to a better long-term outlook for the program.

Alabama makes finalists for top 2026 cornerback prospect

One of the nation’s top 2026 cornerbacks is down to five.

The Alabama Crimson Tide recently received some significant news in the 2026 recruiting cycle Tuesday, as the program was one-of-five finalists for one of the nation’s premier cornerback prospects, RJ Sermons.

Alongside the Crimson Tide, the four other programs in on Sermons are the Georgia Bulldogs, Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans, and Washington Huskies.

At the moment, Sermons currently ranks as the nation’s No. 33 overall player in the 2026 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, and sits as a highly-rated four-star prospect. Sermons also ranks as the nation’s No. 2 overall cornerback, as well as the No. 6 player in the state of California where he attends Rancho Cucamonga High School.

Alabama’s 2026 class currently holds one commitment, which comes from an in-state prospect in four-star defensive lineman Vodney Cleveland. Attending Parker High School in Alabama, the Crimson Tide’s 2026 recruiting class at the moment ranks No. 39 nationally in the 247Sports Team Rankings with the commitment of Cleveland.

Michigan football makes top group for No. 1 CB in 2026 class

#Michigan making solid early impressions. #GoBlue

While the 2025 class just over two weeks away from signing with their prospective teams, 2026 recruiting is heating up in a big way.

Michigan football is looking to build on Sherrone Moore’s first year as a head coach from a recruiting standpoint, and though his first class is not yet completed, he’s off to a solid start in 2026. Currently, the Wolverines have three commits in the class, including four-star QB Brady Hart, three-star CB Brody Jennings, and three-star WR Jaylen Pile.

Now, the top cornerback in the 2026 class is including Michigan football in his newly-released top 10.

On Tuesday, 2026 Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) four-star cornerback RJ Sermons released his top 10 and the Wolverines made the cut.

 

Here is how Sermons ranks according to the recruiting services:

* Ovr Pos St
247Sports Composite 4 33 2 6
On3 Industry Ranking 4 32 2 5
247Sports 4 51 4 7
On3 4 11 1 3
ESPN 4 22 2 3
Rivals 4 133 9 18

The scouting report from 247Sports’ Greg Biggins:

Sermons is a two-sport guy who also excels on the track. Clocked a personal best 10.48-100m and 21.34-200m during Junior track season and plays fast as well. Dad Rodney Sermons played RB at USC in the mid-90s. RJ is a pure corner who can play out wide or as a nickel. Good feet, closes well and shows poise when the ball is in the air. Has good ball awareness and doesn’t need to clutch and grab like a lot of young corners. Good open field tackler, will come up and hit you and has a really nice all around game. Can return punts and kicks and should make a leap in the return game with more opportunities this year. Advanced football IQ and feel for the game and has the all the tools to be an early impact player at the next level and is an easy high Power 5 prospect.

Sermons also has Oregon, USC, Georgia, Washington, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Penn State in his top group.

Trojans’ secondary coach Doug Belk ‘silently’ stacking recruiting victories for USC

Doug Belk might got get as many headlines as D’Anton Lynn or Eric Henderson, but he is earning his place at USC.

Lincoln Riley added Doug Belk to the USC football staff during his 2023 defensive coaching staff purge. Belk was asked to improve and transform a USC secondary which did not evolve or get the level of player development it needed from Alex Grinch and Donte Williams.

It shouldn’t be ignored that Taylor Mays got a lot out of the USC secondary in the Holiday Bowl, but that was in an interim capacity. Riley needed a heavy hitter to come in and change the back line of the USC defense. We haven’t yet seen Belk coach USC on a college football game day — his big debut is against LSU in a few weeks — but while coordinator D’Anton Lynn and defensive line coach Eric Henderson might have grabbed more headlines, Belk has silently gone about his business and showed what he can do in recruiting and player acquisition.

USC just received a commitment from Kendarius Reddick, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound four-star safety from Thomasville, Ga. Doug Belk did a solid job  was able to flip Reddick from UCF, another instance of USC going into the Deep South and getting a highly-rated player.  Reddick is a great addition to current 2025 commits Shamar Arnoux and Trestin Castro.

Belk has been on a nice run since his hire late in 2023.  He hung on to the commitments of Marcelles Williams, Isaiah Rubin and Braylon Conley in the 2024 class. If he can hang on to current commits: Brandon Lockhart, Madden Riordan and Joshua Holland while closing on RJ Sermons in 2026, the Trojans secondary can be elite.

He is speaking softly but is beginning to make his mark for the Trojans, improving the quality of the USC secondary.

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