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Having already received a handful of early Power 5 offers, 4-star defensive end Eli Hall was anticipating what would come last week as the calendar turned to Sept. 1, giving college coaches the ability to start initiating contact with 2022 prospects.

He noticed that USC coaches started following him on Twitter, and sure enough eventually came a text message and then phone conversation to let him know he now had a Trojans offer to consider as well.

"It was very eye-opening, a blessing," said Hall, who lives in Shelby, N.C. "I was just looking and reading. When he had followed me I started doing my research. I do my research on every coach, every team that follows me. They have a great history with defense and offense. I was like wow."

What was perhaps most eye-opening and telling is the time USC defensive line coach Vic So'oto put into that initial conversation.

"It was about 30-45 minutes. It was very detailed," Hall said.

Asked what message that sent him, he added: "They probably really, really, really, really want me. ... I was just listening. With me, if I'm in a circle of bosses with people that know what they're doing I just soak it all up. Going forward I will have a lot of questions."