No. 1 College Football Safety Recruit Heavily Linked to Two Major Programs

The top-rated safety prospect in the class of 2027 has been connected with two major college football programs.

A view of a tv camera and the ESPN college football logo before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the BYU Cougars | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The 2027 college football recruiting cycle is the next opportunity for college football programs to acquire talent to better their rosters for the future.

Several of the top recruits in the 2027 class have already announced their college commitments, although programs still have time to persuade the prospects to flip their commitments. Most prospects will hold off on their commitments until summer.

One of the top uncommitted prospects in the class of 2027 is safety Honor Fa'alave-Johnson. The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from San Diego ranks as both the best player in California and the best safety in the class. 247Sports and Rivals both rank Fa'alave-Johnson as the No. 16 prospect in the class of 2027.

In addition to his skills as a safety, Fa'alave-Johnson is capable of making plays on the offensive side of the football. 247Sports director of scouting noted that Fa'alave-Johnson "stars as a do-it-all utility player on Friday nights and is the type of talent that could legitimately warrant snaps on both sides of the ball in college" in his player evaluation.

Fa'alave-Johnson made an important step in his recruitment on Wednesday when he narrowed down his list of schools to choose from to six. He is considering Miami, Texas, LSU, USC, Notre Dame and Oregon for his college decision.

Greg Biggins of Rivals reported that of the six schools Fa'alave-Johnson listed in his latest cut, there are two in particular to be considered front-runners to land him.

Oregon

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning reacts during the first half of the 2025 Peach Bowl | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Ducks are led by one of the best up-and-coming defensive minds in college football, in head coach Dan Lanning. He coordinated Georgia's defenses from 2019 to 2021, helping the Bulldogs to their first national title since 1980 in his final season on the job.

Oregon is making a change at defensive coordinator following Tosh Lupoi's departure for the California head coaching job, but it is a promotion from within for Chris Hampton. Of the defensive commitments Oregon has landed in its 2027 class, none to this point are defensive backs.

USC

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley celebrates with fans after the game against the UCLA Bruins | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Trojans are the closest of Fa'alave-Johnson's top six programs to his hometown of San Diego. On the note of two-way players, USC has fielded some over the past 15 seasons. In 2015, Adoree' Jackson played cornerback and wide receiver. Although he eventually made the switch to wide receiver full-time, Makai Lemon played both offense and defense when he arrived at USC.

Defense is not the side of the ball Lincoln Riley's teams are best known for, but the Trojans have stabilized on defense in the past two seasons. Four-star Aaryn Washington is USC's lone current defensive back commit in the 2027 class, but he is a cornerback.