USC football fans have every reason to be excited about the direction of the program, particularly in the realm of recruiting. The Trojans are closing in on a top-five class. They have a good chance of finishing in the top five for the 2024 cycle. Let’s be clear: Things are going well, and what follows is not a criticism or a negative observation.
It’s merely an oddity — conspicuous, strange, and weird, but not inherently bad.
When you look at the makeup of USC’s 2024 recruiting class, you might notice something through the first 15 commitments (Wednesday, June 28 at lunchtime in Los Angeles).
USC, in those first 15 commitments (with more on the way), has players from Connecticut, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Oregon, and California.
USC therefore has players from California, the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountain region, Texas (South Central Plains), the Deep South, and New England.
Wait a minute!
USC is going into the Big Ten, and yet — in addition to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Delaware) — the Midwest is the other region of the country without a USC recruit.
USC is going into a conference which is centrally situated in the Midwestern part of the country, and yet that’s the one region where the Trojans haven’t gotten a 2024 recruit as of June 28.
Again, this isn’t bad, but it’s odd and notable. Interestingly enough, this fact — that USC doesn’t have a Midwestern recruit — reinforces the idea that players in other regions of the country love the idea of living in Los Angeles but going to Midwestern locations to play Big Ten football. There seems to be a curiosity factor which is making USC more national, but also less Midwestern, in its recruiting identity and results.
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