USC Trojans Or Georgia Surging For 5-Star Recruit? Mater Dei Tight End Mark Bowman

The USC Trojans had some ground to make up with Mater Dei (Calif.) five-star tight end Mark Bowman when reclassified from the 2027 class to the 2026 class in January.

USC was not heavily involved in Bowman’s recruitment at the time of his reclassification, but after some major additions to the personnel and coaching staff, everything changed, and nobody has been recruiting him harder than his hometown school. The Trojans are "surging" for Bowman, but the Georgia Bulldogs are still hanging in the recruitment, with an April visit to Athens scheduled, according to On3.

The Trojans hired Chad Bowden away from rival Notre Dame in January to be their general manager and former Wisconsin general manager Max Stienecker now holds the title of Executive Director of Personnel at USC.

Oct 21, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches from the sidelines against the Utah Utes in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

They also hired Colorado State’s Chad Savage to be the tight ends/inside receivers coach. Savage is known as an elite recruiter because of his ability to build strong relationships with recruits and their families. All three have played a major factor in Bowman’s recruitment and the Trojans are building momentum to land the highly touted tight end.

In the ever-changing world of college football, with NIL at the forefront, relationships still play a major factor in recruiting and the Trojans staff understands that.

"It's three people," Bowman told 247Sports. "Chad Bowden, Max Stein, and Chad Savage.

"They're always checking in on me. I would say those relationships have improved the most for sure. [Savage] made it a priority to reach out to me a lot. Especially because before that, USC didn't really recruit me."

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The Trojans hosted Bowman for an unofficial visit this month that showed just how much of a priority he is for them in the 2026 recruiting cycle. Los Angeles is a glamour city, and the Trojans have leaned into it.

“They showed a lot of love," Bowman told 247Sports. "The whole coaching staff was waiting for me when I got there.

"I got to sit down with Lincoln and go over how he would use me in the offense and talked about how he sees me as a player there," Bowman continued. "Then we got a good dinner, got a little campus tour, got to see the dorms, and then at the end of the night, they took us in a sprinter van to the Coliseum. And basically, Chad Bowden was like, 'I want you to try to envision yourself here, like you're walking down on game day.'"

"So we walked down the stairs and they played the hype video on the board and lit the torch which was crazy. It was literally just me and my family there and they did it all for us," Bowman said.

Bowman has his official visit scheduled with USC starting on June 17. The Trojans staff will certainly push for Bowman to take another unofficial visit with spring practice starting up this week. And expect USC to be frequent visitors at Mater Dei, the national powerhouse located in Orange County when the coaches hit the recruiting trail again.

Bowman is down in the Lone Star State competing at the second week of the Overtime OT7 Spring League. The five-star recruit has shown his vast skillset as a pass catcher that has been him one of the most coveted prospects in the country.

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