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.
