USC football recruiting: 4-star safety Max Redfield decommits from Trojans

Notre Dame could now be the frontrunner for the stand out from Mission Viejo.

A'Shawn Robinson planning recruiting visit to USC

A source close to the Arlington Heights program considers USC to be a serious threat to the Longhorns in recruiting the defensive lineman.

USC Football Recruiting: Eddie Vanderdoes Will Take Official Visits

Lane Kiffin and USC have been on a recruiting roll this offseason and their current 2013 recruiting class is stocked with elite prospects. One of those prospects, however, might be keeping his options open. Defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes will take official visits to other schools prior to signing day, according to a report from Adam Gorney of Rivals.com.

Hearing #USC commit Eddie Vanderdoes will take some official visits before signing day.

— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) August 23, 2012

Vanderdoes, who plays for Placer High School in Auburn, Calif., verbally committed to the Trojans on July 11. He is ranked as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com. Scout.com ranks Vanderdoes as a five-star recruit and the No. 2 defensive tackle in the 2013 class.

Just because Vanderdoes may take his official visits, doesn't mean he won't still sign with USC in February. Some athletes take their official visits just to enjoy the experience while others use them to reaffirm their original decision. Vanderdoes will, however, be listed as a soft verbal by many of the recruiting services if he does indeed officially visit another school.

For more on USC Trojans football, check out Conquest Chronicles.

USC Football Recruiting: Trojans Commits Ty Isaac, Jalen Ramsey Among 8 New 5-Star Players

USC recruits Jalen Ramsey and Ty Isaac are among the eight new five-star prospects announced by Rivals.com with the release of the new Rivals 100, a list of the top 100 recruits in the country.

Ramsey, a cornerback from Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy is ranked no. 11 and Isaac, a running back from Joliet (Ill.) Catholic is no. 19.

National Analyst Mike Farrell, a scout for Rivals for more than a decade, raved about Ramsey, who dominated at the Rivals 100 Five-Star Challenge.

"Jalen Ramsey was the overall MVP at the Rivals Challenge and his combination of size, speed, ball skills and his ability to press or play off coverage is rare at the high school level," Farrell said.

Rivals Midwest analyst Josh Helmboldt spoke on how Isaac has overcome his big and tall stature as a running back to still produce.

"In several offseason camps, Isaac was leading others in his group and sustained a high level of play throughout," Helmboldt said. "His work ethic and ability to impress at each event we saw him convinced us he was ready to make the move to five-stars."

Ramsey and Isaac are now among 22 five-star prospects heading into the football season.

For more on USC Trojans football, check out Conquest Chronicles.

USC Football Recruiting: Trojans Commit Kenny Bigelow To Enroll in Spring, Per Report

Five-star commit Kenny Bigelow will join the USC Trojans for spring practice in 2013, according to ESPN's Blair Angulo.

And add second-ranked DT Kenny Bigelow @4_fighton_0 to the list of commits with intentions to enroll next spring. That makes eight for USC.

— Blair Angulo (@bangulo) August 18, 2012

Having Bigelow and others start school early can be beneficial to Lane Kiffin and USC for multiple reasons. The obvious is that players can get extra work with the coaching staff and acclimate to college life before the pressure of big games comes around.

Additionally, and more importantly for the Trojans, they are allowed to count three of the early enrollees against the 2012 class. With USC limited to 15 scholarships by the NCAA, down from the usual 25, this allows them to sign 18 players this during this recruiting year and helps to maximize the number of scholarship athletes.

For more on the Trojans, head over to SB Nation's Conquest Chronicles. For a Pac-12 perspective, bookmark Pacific Takes. Looking for all things recruiting? Go to SB Nation's Recruiting hub.

USC Football Recruiting: Max Browne One Of The Elite 11

The USC Trojans seem to have found the right quarterback for the job in quarterback Max Browne. Already considered one of the best prospects in the country before his senior season (perhaps the top pro-style prospect in the nation), Browne appeared to show that he belonged with the elites when he made the final list of Elite 11 quarterbacks. Browne was one of the three finalists for MVP consideration.

Here is the list of Elite 11 quarterbacks, which includes their schools of commitment.

• Max Browne - USC
• Asantii Woulard - South Florida, MVP
• Kevin Olsen - Miami (FL)
• Josh Dobbs - Arizona State
• Johnny Stanton - Nebraska
• Malik Zaire - Notre Dame
• Shane Cockerille - Maryland
• Jared Goff - California
• Zack Greenlee - Uncommitted
• Luke Del Rio - Oklahoma State
• Christian Haceknberg- Penn State

Here's a link to the video interview Scott Enyeart of SB Nation Seattle managed to conduct with Browne.

Talk about Browne with USC football fans by checking out Conquest Chronicles.

Hit up the SB Nation college football YouTube channel and see if you'd be willing to subscribe to the videos.

USC Football Recruiting: Jalen Ramsey Chooses Trojans Over Vanderbilt, Tennessee

The USC Trojans 15th commitment is a major coup and comes in the form of cornerback Jalen Ramsey out of Tennessee.

A star for Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy, Ramsey chose the Trojans over the likes of Auburn, Clemson, Mississippi, Vanderbilt, Washington and Tennessee. With the Trojans only allowed a maximum of 18 players in 2013 due to NCAA sanctions, the Trojans have made each one of their commits count.

Ramsey is a big corner at 6'0 and 190 pounds with the ability to play press coverage. His stock rose when he proved he could defend the top rated wide receiver in the country, Ricky Seals-Jones, at The Opening in early July.

Ramsey joins corner Chris Hawkins and safety Su'a Cravens in a superb secondary recruiting class. The first practices when these guys hit campus should be fun.

For more on Trojans football, visit USC blog Conquest Chronicles, plus Pac-12 blog Pacific Takes and SB Nation Los Angeles.

2013 USC Recruiting Class: Scouting Report On WR Steven Mitchell

USC beat out the likes of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Oregon for the services of 5-foot-11, 175-pound wide receiver Steven Mitchell out of Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany High School. He was the ninth member of the 2013 recruiting class for USC.

Mitchell is projected to receive most of his playing time at wide receiver while also aiding the special teams as a punt returner. Due to his stature, Mitchell will most likely be used in the slot. This shouldn't be a problem since that's where Mitchell spent the majority of his time playing in high school.

In the open field, Mitchell makes his moves to accelerate up field instead of doing the traditional lateral dancing that superbly talented runners at the prep level can often times fall victim to.

Mitchell, like most prep wide receivers, will need to improve his route running in college but as of now, he is very quick in and out of his cuts and possesses the tools to eventually develop into a very good route runner.

For more on the Trojans be sure to check out Conquest Chronicles.

USC Football Recruiting: Four-Star Wide Receiver Steven Mitchell Commits To Trojans

The USC Trojans are working with a limited number of scholarships for their 2013 recruiting class, but that has not stopped head coach Lane Kiffin from luring some of the nation's best talent to his program. According to various reports on Sunday afternoon, four-star wide receiver Steven Mitchell has committed to USC.

He had offers from schools all over the country, including ones from Nebraska, Texas A&M, UCLA and Arizona.

Breaking News- Mission Hills (Calif) Alemany WR Steven Mitchell has committed to #USC, story on the way

— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) June 10, 2012

According to Rivals, Mitchell is the eighth-best wide receiver in his class and is ranked No. 63 on their top-100 list.

Mitchell is a bit undersized at 5'11 and 170lbs, but his 4.5 speed on the 40-yard dash indicates the Trojans are going to be adding a very speedy receiver to their roster in 2013. He also has a 3.6 GPA in school, which is always nice when securing the commitment from a talented and high-profile player.

USC now has nine players committed for next year's class, all of which are considered four- or five-star recruits, including No. 1 quarterback Max Browne. Not too bad for a program dealing with scholarship restrictions.

Here is a full highlight reel of Mitchell in action as a junior.

For more on the Trojans be sure to check out Conquest Chronicles.

Su'a Cravens Commits To USC Over Michigan, Nebraska

At long last the wait is finally over as it was announced on Wednesday that highly-touted safety Su'a Cravens has indeed committed to play for Lane Kiffin and the USC Trojans next season, turning down the likes of UCLA, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State. He also had offers from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Clemson, Florida, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M.

SB Nation's Derrell Warren put together an excellent scouting report on the young man from Murrieta, CA. Here is Warren with the commentary:

Strengths: Cravens possesses college-ready size, agility and athleticism. He also has a high football IQ.

Questions: Cravens will probably need to be evaluated at both strong safety and outside linebacker to determine where he best fits. Can he play safety at a higher weight considering he is likely far from done growing? Also, he is a physical ‘form' tackler but is not necessarily a ‘blow up' hitter

In-Depth Breakdown: ...On offense Cravens lines up primarily at the running back position and displays solid vision and short area quickness and exhibits creativity as a runner that I believe has been understated by most who have scouted his games....Cravens has near freakish flexibility and movement skills for an athlete of his size. He is a true student of the game...Cravens is often used as an edge rusher by his high school team but generally lines up all over the field on defense...in space, Cravens displays compact footwork that allows him to cleanly change direction and he is very sudden with plus level short area burst and quickness. Plays fast due to not only to having good field speed but shows excellent diagnostic skills and often times seems to be able to see 3-4 frames ahead of what's happening on the field during a particular play.

In other USC recruiting news, SB Nation's Bud Elliot mentions a few more names joining the Trojans, which he admits are amongst the best if not the best at their respective positions in all of the country. They are also doing this with a limited number of scholarships thanks to their NCAA sanctions:

Other top Trojan recruits include Max Browne, the top pro-style quarterback recruit nationally, Kenny Bigelow, one of the country's top defensive linemen, Justin Davis, one of the top running backs on the West Coast, Ty Isaac, the top running back in the Midwest, Kylie Fitts, a very promising defensive end from California, Chris Hawkins, a star defensive back from USC's backyard and Eldridge Massington, a track star receiver from Texas.

Pretty much every single USC commitment is the best or very near it at his position.

Things are certainly looking bright for the USC football program.

For more on the Trojans, head over to Conquest Chronicles. For more on the Pac-12 check out Pacific Takes.

Su'a Cravens To Decide Today; USC Trojans, Michigan Wolverines The Favorites

Vista Murrieta safety Su'a Cravens is considered one of the top recruits on the West Coast in the 2013 recruiting class. Cravens is the best safety in a recruiting class loaded with great safety talent. Cravens will be making his decision Wednesday. There won't be any televised announcement or anything too public. Cravens is making the announcement Wednesday because it's his mother's birthday, and he's long stood by the opinion that this commitment will stick. Once he commits, he won't change it up.

There are two schools ahead of the rest in the pack that should really consider themselves factors: The USC Trojans (long considered the heavy favorites), and the Michigan Wolverines. Eric McKinney of Recruiting Nation has this report.

"Whoever gets him is getting a game-breaker," Ford said. "He's somebody you can insert at any time. He can play safety or linebacker. He can return kicks, play running back, line up in the slot. He can probably do anything. He's a strong kid, a smart kid, a good-character kid. He doesn't bring the 'me' attitude to a program. Somebody is going to get a very well-rounded student-athlete."

USC and Michigan coaches have talked to Cravens about playing on both sides of the ball, and while the safety remains confident about his ability and passion for defense, he said recently the idea of playing some snaps on offense intrigues him. It wouldn't be surprising to see offensive coordinators draw up some special packages to utilize all of Cravens' skills at the next level.

Other schools in the mix for Cravens are the UCLA Bruins, Ohio State Buckeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers, although they're far more likely to finish in third place in this race than actually win it all. Either USC or Michigan will be landing a stud safety that could hold down the back line of the defense for years to come.

Talk about Cravens and USC football recruiting in general by going over to Conquest Chronicles. Talk about Cravens and Michigan football recruiting by hitting up Maize N Brew.

Check out the SB Nation college football YouTube channel below and see if you'd be willing to subscribe to the videos.

USC Football Recruiting: Safety Elijah Steen Commits To Trojans

Elijah Steen, a class of 2012 recruit, committed to the USC Trojans on Thursday afternoon at the team's practice according to a report from the OC Register.

Along with USC, the 6'2" safety was considering scholarship offers from Boston College, BYU, UC Davis and UCLA. Steen will join the team as a preferred walk-on, meaning he will not take up a scholarship spot when he joins the team this fall.

Steen will have to compete with the three other secondary prospects the Trojans are bringing in from the class of 2012. Gerald Bowman, Kevin Seymour and Devian Shelton are all listed as four-star defensive backs, while Steen is not ranked on most recruiting sites.

At one point during the recruiting process, Steen only held one scholarship offer from UC Davis, but his highlight tape sent out in January caught the attention of coaches around the nation looking for a safety.

Elijah Steen #7 2011 (via elijahsteen7)

For more news and notes on USC recruiting and all Trojan athletics in general, make your way over to Conquest Chronicles to get your fix.

USC Football Recruiting: QB Max Browne Commits To USC Trojans

The USC Trojans football program hasn't had a a large 2013 recruitment class yet, but it has certainly been quality, adding quarterback Max Browne out of Skyline High School in Seattle, WA, bringing their '13 class to three players after Browne's commitment Wednesday night.

Listed at 6'5", 205 pounds, Browne is seen as a four-star recruit across the board, having his entire senior season to continue to impress and possibly more up the rankings to a five-star. Scouts feel that Browne has plenty of arm strength, is a solid pocket passer, and has the ability to make the big time throws. The junior has shown some daft touch and precision, two things the USC Trojans will certainly use to their advantage down the road. Another great Trojan QB make just have been born.

For more news and notes on USC recruiting and all Trojan athletics in general, make your way over to Conquest Chronicles to get your fix. For more on college football in general, please check out SB Nation's dedicated NCAA football hub.

USC Football Recruiting: Max Browne Favoring Trojans, To Decide Wednesday

Max Browne is supposedly favoring the USC Trojans. Will the top quarterback of the 2013 recruiting class pick USC over Oklahoma, Alabama and Washington?