Five-Star Recruit Cory Cunningham Shares Honest Opinion of USC During First Visit

Providence (N.C.) five-star defensive lineman Cory Cunningham was one of the headliners in what was an impressive list of recruits that visited USC Friday morning as they wind down their final week of spring practice.

For Cunningham, the No. 29 overall prospect and No. 4 defensive lineman and No. 2 player in North Carolina, per 247Sports in the 2028 cycle, it was his first ever trip to California.

Los Angles Unofficial Visit USC Trojans Cory Cunningham Lincoln Riley Skyler Jones Recruiting Spring Practice Blue-Chip — Providence (N.C.) five-star defensive lineman Cory Cunningham | Providence (N.C.) five-star defensive lineman Cory Cunningham

“A lot of people, a lot of traffic. But overall, I still love it because it's how I dreamed it's gonna be with the palm trees and stuff like that,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham got an in-depth look at the football program and took a tour around the campus, which left a lasting impression and given him something to think about moving forward. Two things stood out to Cunningham about his tour, the size of the campus and the diversity at the university, he appreciated seeing a wide variety of different cultures.

Friday presented himself the opportunity to get an up-close look at new defensive line coach Skyler Jones, who was promoted in February, and continue building their relationship.

“Pretty nice guy. Honestly, just really cool to talk to. We talk back and forth about how things will be,” Cunningham said.

Stacking Elite Out-of-State Defensive Linemen Recruits

In an all-out effort to build a dominant defensive front in the Big Ten, the Trojans have expanded their recruiting reach to land blue-chip prospects.

In the 2024 cycle, it was junior defensive end Kameryn Crawford, a former top 100 overall prospect from Georgia. In 2025, the Trojans beat out several premier programs to land sophomore defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart, a former five-star recruit from New Orleans.

And then this last cycle, USC went into New Jersey and landed the No. 1 overall recruit, according to Rivals in freshman defensive end Luke Wafle. Five-star freshman defensive lineman Jaimeon Winfield comes from Texas.

Southern Cal is pursuing Greenwich County Day (Conn.) four-star edge Mekai Brown, a top 50 overall recruit and the No. 1 player in Connecticut in the 2027 cycle and Cunningham could be next in line in the 2028 cycle.

Cunningham said the Trojans coaching and personnel staff did a good job of making him feel comfortable with the possibility of playing his college football across the country. The North Carolina native also pointed to warm weather as something that stood out to him.

Cory Cunningham’s Recruitment

Cunningham is a high ceiling prospect. He’s only in his second year of playing organized football and still, he has the attention of top programs from around the country.

While Cunningham says he doesn’t have any leaders in his recruitment, the five-star recruit does hold an impressive offer list which includes schools such as Ohio State, Indiana, Miami, Oregon, Georgia and others. He’s only a sophomore and is no rush to cut down his list. At the moment, he’s just soaking it all in and enjoying the process.

“It’s a blessing to be God gifted with such talent and in only my second year playing organized football that I get so much notoriety to my name,” Cunningham said. “I like telling my story because it shows how much you got to be into it. You got to really love the game in order to grow.”

There is one important quality that Cunningham says would begin to separate some programs from others.

“Just showing how authentic they are," Cunningham said. "Just show how you really be, don’t try and switch it out because I’m there. I want it to be authentic as it could be.”

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