Huntley’s Early Signing Day Postmortem

Several top football players in Southern California signed letters of intent this week and some are still making decisions. Now that the initial storm has passed, it is time to take a look at which colleges did the best job recruiting in Southern California, a region loaded with top tier talent. After USC hired Lincoln Riley, its 2022 recruiting class was down to the bare bones with only three commits remaining. Riley successfully flipped Mater Dei star running back [player_tooltip player_id="25225" first="Raleek" last="Brown"] to USC. USC has not landed any local recruits since but there is still talent considering the Trojans. The top prospect in the state, Mater Dei cornerback [player_tooltip player_id="25223" first="Domani" last="Jackson"] was initially committed to USC but backed off in November. Jackson is down to two schools, USC and Alabama and may decide this week. Mater Dei receiver [player_tooltip player_id="25224" first="CJ" last="Williams"] has USC in his top four schools and plans on signing by the end of the week and revealing his decision at the All-American game on January 8. He was originally committed to Notre Dame but is intrigued by the Trojans. Servite receiver [player_tooltip player_id="25227" first="Tetairoa" last="McMillan"] also is undecided but may sign this week. USC is in his top three along with Oregon and Arizona. USC seems to be last on his list though considering he was initially committed to Oregon and three of his Servite teammates are going to Arizona. Speaking of Arizona, the Wildcats did a phenomenal job recruiting in the region. They landed the Servite trio of [player_tooltip player_id="25286" first="Noah" last="Fifita"], [player_tooltip player_id="25242" first="Keyan" last="Burnett"] and [player_tooltip player_id="143131" first="Jacob" last="Manu"]. They also flipped Mater Dei defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei from Washington State and held onto edge rusher [player_tooltip player_id="25246" first="Sterling" last="Lane"] from Oaks Christian. https://twitter.com/ArizonaFBall/status/1471144957259890694?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1471144957259890694%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fprepredzone.com%2F2021%2F12%2Fearly-signing-day-orange-county-and-san-diego-signees%2F The WIldcats landed Alemany stars [player_tooltip player_id="25240" first="Kevin" last="Green"] and [player_tooltip player_id="25237" first="Ephesians" last="Prysock"]. They also picked up a duo from Colony High in [player_tooltip player_id="25337" first="Antoine" last="Jones"] and [player_tooltip player_id="186964" first="Isaiah" last="Ward"]. While Notre Dame may lose Williams, they didn’t leave Southern California empty handed. The Fighting Irish got Alemany defensive star [player_tooltip player_id="25231" first="Niuafe" last="Tuihalamaka"] and Centennial cornerback [player_tooltip player_id="25243" first="Jaden" last="Mickey"]. Stanford did pretty well landing three outstanding edge rushers and an offensive lineman. Mater Dei’s [player_tooltip player_id="25234" first="David" last="Bailey"], Torrey Pines’ [player_tooltip player_id="141881" first="Zach" last="Rowell"] and Sierra Canyon’s [player_tooltip player_id="25251" first="Kenji" last="Swanson"] are headed to Palo Alto. Another top San Diego pass rusher, [player_tooltip player_id="25320" first="Jaxson" last="Moi"] of Cathedral Catholic will go to Stanford as well. UCLA had a nice day with a trio from Inglewood headlining its recruiting class. [player_tooltip player_id="25263" first="Tomarion" last="Harden"], [player_tooltip player_id="25247" first="Justyn" last="Martin"] and [player_tooltip player_id="25250" first="Clint" last="Stephens"] are staying local to play for the Bruins. Sierra Canyon defensive back [player_tooltip player_id="25230" first="Kamari" last="Ramsey"] flipped from Stanford to UCLA on signing day. Offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="141902" first="Sam" last="Yoon"] from Loyola, Vista Murrieta tight end [player_tooltip player_id="25235" first="Jack" last="Pedersen"] and San Juan Hills receiver [player_tooltip player_id="141899" first="Braden" last="Pegan"] are also going to be wearing the powder blue and gold. https://twitter.com/UCLAFootball/status/1471141635371114499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1471141635371114499%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fprepredzone.com%2F2021%2F12%2Fearly-signing-day-orange-county-and-san-diego-signees%2F The only Trinity League player to sign with UCLA was linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="25257" first="Jalen" last="Woods"] of St. John Bosco Colorado State was the surprising team that landed a ton of Southern California recruits. [player_tooltip player_id="25297" first="Aubrey" last="Scott"] of Leuzinger, [player_tooltip player_id="253178" first="Justus" last="Ross-Simmons"], [player_tooltip player_id="141947" first="Louis" last="Brown"] and [player_tooltip player_id="25277" first="Marshon" last="Oxley"] of Inglewood are all headed to Colorado State. Pasadena receiver [player_tooltip player_id="25248" first="Mekhi" last="Fox"] flipped his commitment from UCLA to Colorado State on signing day as well. Oregon State continued to its trend of getting solid players from the region. The Beavers landed two very good defensive players in [player_tooltip player_id="141889" first="Sam" last="Mason"] of Charter Oak and [player_tooltip player_id="25255" first="Mathias" last="Malaki-Donaldson"] of Oaks Christian. They also landed promising Simi Valley quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="25325" first="Travis" last="Throckmorton"]. San Jose State did pretty well in Southern California. Inglewood’s [player_tooltip player_id="25267" first="Damon" last="Williams"], Banning running back [player_tooltip player_id="25285" first="Jakob" last="Galloway"], San Pedro receiver [player_tooltip player_id="187002" first="Kejuan" last="Bullard"] Jr., Murrieta Valley offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="141913" first="Jake" last="Steele"] and Valencia quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="25328" first="Tyler" last="Voss"] all signed Wednesday. The military academies were active. Air Force landed Aliso Niguel long snapper <strong>Kurt Chesney</strong>. Army got letters of intent from [player_tooltip player_id="141957" first="Hunter" last="Roddy"] of Chaparral, [player_tooltip player_id="186985" first="Maicah" last="Talavou"] of St. John Bosco, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="143112" first="Caden" last="Harman"]</strong> of Sierra Canyon, [player_tooltip player_id="141923" first="Donovan" last="Poe"] of Long Beach Poly and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="253225" first="Zion" last="Sims"]</strong> of Servite. The Big Ten only got two players from Southern California but they are two of my favorite players to watch. [player_tooltip player_id="141891" first="Mason" last="Graham"] of Servite is headed to Michigan and [player_tooltip player_id="25313" first="Braydon" last="Brus"] of Glendora is going to Northwestern. Lastly, San Diego State did an outstanding job landing top local players from San Diego and a pair of talented Southern Section running backs. Three of the top players from San Diego are staying home: <strong>Romeo Mageo</strong> (Cathedral Catholic), [player_tooltip player_id="141906" first="Lucky" last="Sutton"], Cathedral Catholic and [player_tooltip player_id="141920" first="Treyton" last="White"] (Eastlake). A little bit north, running backs <strong>Sheldon Canley</strong> (Lompoc) and [player_tooltip player_id="25271" first="Max" last="Garrison"] (St. Francis) are headed to San Diego. https://twitter.com/AztecFB/status/1471510266059759620?s=20 Two Inland Empire defensive backs are also headed to San Diego State in [player_tooltip player_id="143116" first="Chris" last="Johnson"] of Roosevelt and [player_tooltip player_id="141869" first="Eric" last="Butler"] of Centennial. Norco quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="187266" first="Kyle" last="Crum"] is also going there. There are still many shoes to drop and when they do Prep Redzone will have all the coverage and analysis.