When four-star Rivals250 linebacker Jordan Lockhart announced his decommitment from Ole Miss earlier this month, the heightened interest from other schools was immediate and "crazy," he said.

"Tennessee, Michigan, Alabama, Texas A&M -- so I'll be visiting those schools. I'll be up at Oklahoma on March 24 and make my way to Michigan on the 25th," Lockhart said.

All the while, USC has remained consistent in its interest, which is very much mutual for the local St. John Bosco HS standout.

"It's just building my relationship with them. I think coach Lincoln Riley along with the whole coaching staff did a phenomenal job trying to do their best to get guys to stay home. Like I said, I'm just really looking forward to building that relationship even more now that I'm 100 percent open, open arms and everything," Lockhart told TrojanSports.com.

Lockhart was in the Coliseum as a visitor last season and was back at USC a month and a half ago for its junior day recruiting event. He was tentatively planning another trip to campus within the next week to watch a spring practice.

A lot has certainly changed for the program since he made that initial commitment to Ole Miss back in January of 2022, and he's taken notice.

"I think coach Lincoln Riley did a phenomenal job bringing back the culture, how everyone remembers how it was from the Pete Carroll days and everything like that. But it's been awesome. I went to the USC vs. Notre Dame game and the Coliseum was packed -- I've never seen it like that before, [like] back before in the old days. It's been awesome just going through my recruiting process and everything," Lockhart said.