Clay Helton Talks Early Signing Day "We Are In A Terrific Place"
"We are in a terrific place for it being the first signing day" said head coach of the USC Trojans Clay Helton on a zoom press conference on Wednesday.
As of 2:00 PM PST, the USC Trojans have announced 19 players for the 2021 class. Clay Helton said that the Trojans intend to sign 20 guys total today.
"Ten of these young men are from the state of California, we continued our west coast footprint, ten from California. One of the top players in Utah, one of the top players in Washington, and one of the top players in Nevada. But one thing that I've learned about this brand is that you can take it anywhere and be successful. We were able to garner four kids from the state of Texas which has been really good to us the past couple of years." (Helton)
One of the biggest story lines from today was USC gaining the commitment of Utah 2021 QB Jaxson Dart. Bringing two quarterbacks in for the 2021 class was a priority for the Trojans, and even more so after losing Jake Garcia.
AllTrojans asked Clay Helton if landing Dart was a relief after Garcia's de-commitment, and he responded,
"We had a great quarterback in Miller Moss that we were able to commit in the spring. To be able to evaluate Jaxson and to see his talent level, and to bring two great quarterbacks into that room that we know both had competitive hearts and didn't care who was in the room it takes a lot of courage.
One just to walk in the room and say hey Kedon Slovis is there imagine that. Then to have two quarterbacks in the room at the same time just speaks volumes to who those two guys are.
We came into the recruiting process knowing that we had skipped a year last year. We needed to sign two."
[READ: USC Lands Top QB Recruit Jaxson Dart]
Currently, USC ranks at No.13 nationally for their 2021 recruiting class according to ESPN. Other teams to make ESPN's Top 75 list are the Oregon Ducks at No.6, Cal Bears at No.20 and Washington Huskies at No.22, Utah Utes at No.32, Arizona State Sun Devils at No. 34, Stanford Cardinal at No.48, UCLA Bruins at No.54, Arizona Wildcats at No.63, Colorado Buffaloes at No.66, Washington State Cougars at No.69, and Oregon State Beavers at No.75.
Helton credits the No.13 ranking to his coaching staff.
"I'm very appreciative for our staff. This was an unusual year. Living in the world of technology and having to recruit with technology. We really felt like relationships were going to be ultra important. I think one of the greatest gifts you can give someone is your time. We duct taped phones and ipads to our heads. We went as hard as we could building relationships and spending the time with recruits and gaining their faith and their trust and then putting the product on the field."
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