Tag: Trestin Castro

USC signees take center stage at Polynesian Bowl

Husan Longstreet shined at the Polynesian Bowl. That’s the news USC football fans wanted to hear.

This past Friday night marked the annual Polynesian Bowl. An annual event held in Hawaii, the Polynesian Bowl serves as an all-star game of sorts for many of the top high school football players in the country.

Since the event was first held in 2017, numerous USC signees have played in the Polynesian Bowl. Notable game alumni who have gone on to star at USC include Brett Neilon, Isaiah Pola-Mao, Talanoa Hufanga, and Tuli Tuipulotu.

This year, there were five USC commits in the game: Quarterback Husan Longstreet, wide receiver Tanook Hines, cornerback Alex Graham, cornerback Trestin Castro, and linebacker Matai Tagoa’i. All but Tagoa’i are enrolled early at USC and plan to participate in spring practice with the Trojans. Hence, the event essentially served as one final high school showcase for them before they enter their college careers head on.

Longstreet, the Trojans’ five-star quarterback signee, stole the show, earning the game’s MVP honors. He also went viral on social media for throwing a ball 78 yards during a skills competition at the event.

With the Polynesian Bowl wrapped up, Longstreet and the other signees will now head back to LA. USC resumes classes on Tuesday, and the football team will be doing plenty of workouts to prepare for spring ball.

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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