USC Football: Trojans Offer Penn State Commit Messiah Mickens

The Pennsylvania native announced he earned a late offer from the Trojans

Trinity (Camp Hill, PA) running back Messiah Mickens just took to Twitter to announce that he received an offer from USC. Mickens is currently committed to Penn State. He announced his commitment back in August of this year. 

247Sports has Mickens ranked as the 30th-best recruit in the country in the class of 2026, and the best player coming out of Pennsylvania in the 2026 cycle. On3 has him listed as the 25th best, nationally, and also has him as the top recruit in the state of Pennsylvania in the class of 2026.  

So, does USC have a chance at flipping Mickens? 

We suspect that if USC bothered to offer Mickens, they probably think they have a shot at landing him. On the surface, it's hard to imagine USC pulling a Pennsylvania native off of Penn State. Penn State has a solid recent history of great running backs (Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders). They also are a more consistent program, generally, than USC. NIL is more or less a toss-up on who has the edge, but our bet is that USC paves a more attractive path on the front given their location. 

USC does have time on its side, however. Mickens has 2 more years left of high school ball. Plenty of time left for the Trojans to make an impression on the 5'10 running back. 

The Trojans play Penn State next season, their inaugural season as members of the Big 10. It will become increasingly common for USC and Penn State's paths to cross on the recruiting trail as the conference realignment plays out and the west coast teams reach into the Midwest and East Coast with increasing regularity. 

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