Why 5-Star Tight End Recruit Mark Bowman Committed to USC Over Texas, Georgia

The USC Trojans landed a massive commitment on Friday from Mater Dei (Calif.) five-star tight end Mark Bowman. He chose USC over offers from Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Ole Miss.

USC now boast the No. 1 ranked class in the 2026 cycle according to every recruiting site, 247Sports, ESPN, Rivals and the On3 Industry Rankings.

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reacts against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the second half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Bowman reclassified from the 2027 class to the 2026 class in the January and since then the Trojans have been all-in pursuit of the No. 1 ranked tight end in the country, thanks to some big hires to the coaching staff and personnel department.

Inside receivers and tight ends coach Chad Savage joined the staff in January and quickly built a strong relationship with Bowman. Savage came over from Colorado State, where he was named the Mountain West’s Recruiter of the Year for three consecutive years by 247Sports because of his recruiting efforts in Southern California.

"Since he got hired, he made it his thing to make sure he recruits me the hardest out of anybody else,” Bowman told Rivals.

A trip to campus on March 10 for Bowman began to shift his recruitment in the Trojans direction as he got an in-depth look at the program that made a lasting impression on him and his family. Bowman and his four-star defensive lineman teammate and USC commit Tomuhini Topui were the only recruits on campus and received an intimate visit.

Bowman met with coach Lincoln Riley and discussed what his role in the offense would look like. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound tight end is an advanced route runner that can stretch the field. He moves like a receiver and could make an immediate impact at the next level. Riley and Bowman remained in constant contact this calendar year.

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General manager Chad Bowden took Bowman and his family to the Coliseum where they played the hype video on the board and lit the torch. Max Steinecker, who joined the Trojans staff in February and serves as USC's executive director of personnel, has been heavily involved in Bowman’s recruitment and ultimately played a crucial role.

Bowman returned to campus for the Trojan Olympics on April 26, a massive recruiting event that replaced the annual spring game. It brought together current players, USC commits, uncommitted recruits and all of their families together inside the Coliseum. Multiple members of the Trojans staff then visited Bowman at his school earlier this month.

Locking down Southern California in recruiting was priority No. 1 for Bowden when he came over from Notre Dame in January and that meant restoring the program’s pipeline with Mater Dei, a national powerhouse that is located less than 45 miles from USC’s campus.

The Trojans have not signed a prospect from Mater Dei since the 2022 cycle, Riley's first recruiting class, and now hold three commitments in the 2026 class from the prominent high school in Bowman, Topui and four-star EDGE Shaun Scott.

Bowman took an official visit with Ole Miss on May 16. He has others scheduled with Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Oregon, but USC has implemented a new recruiting rule under Bowden, which is Trojan commits can't officially visit other schools.

USC is up to 27 commitments, 17 of which come from Southern California. IMG Academy (Fla.) five-star offensive tackle was born and raised in Southern California, where his family still resides. Bowman is the third five-star recruit to commit the Trojans in the 2026 class, joining Pepe and Archbishop Hoban (Ohio) cornerback Elbert Hill. Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) five-star cornerback RJ Sermons reclassified from the 2026 class to the 2025 class last week and will officially enroll at USC in July.

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