Related stories

• STORY: OL Micah Banuelos details the factors that led to his USC commitment

• GORNEY: How USC beat Oregon for Micah Banuelos' commitment

USC added another major piece to its 2023 recruiting class Monday as three-star offensive guard Micah Banuelos announced his commitment to the Trojans.

Banuelos, from Burien, Wash., chose USC over Oregon and Texas A&M.

It's a major recruiting win for USC, which first and foremost needs to bring in a strong offensive line class, and secondly, it doesn't hurt to beat out the Ducks, who have been the Trojans' toughest West Coast challenger on the recruiting trail.

We break down Banuelos' commitment from every angle, including a look inside the film room and a scouting report from Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney.

The Trojans now have three Class of 2023 offensive line commits in Banuelos and three-star offensive tackles Amos Talalele and Tobias Raymond, while three-star guard Alani Noa (Sacramento, Calif.) remains another strong lead for the program.

Banuelos and Talalele have both been priority targets for most of this recruiting cycle, so these are linemen that USC identified early and pursued aggressively. It's important to note that there are so few four-star linemen out west. Banuelos is actually the second-highest-rated 2023 offensive guard west of Texas, behind Iapani Laloulu, out of Hawaii.

So this is a nice get for USC any way you look at it.

The Trojans will be losing starting left guard Andrew Vorhees, starting center Brett Neilon and possibly projected starting right guard Justin Dedich after this season, so replenishing on the interior of the line was vital. (Projected left tackle Bobby Haskins is also in his final year of eligibility).

With Maximus Gibbs taking some personal time away from the program after taking second-team reps at right guard all spring, there aren't many obvious answers up front for 2023.

Dedich could return next year due to the extra season of eligibility he received from the shortened 2020 pandemic season, and that would be a boost for USC as he could start at either center or guard.

Andrew Milek, entering his third year in the program, has gotten a lot of practice reps at center and would be another option there, as would JUCO addition Cooper Lovelace. Lovelace could also factor in at guard.

At tackle, USC should return Courtland Ford and Jonah Monheim in 2023, as well as emerging young lineman Mason Murphy, who worked as the second-team left tackle this spring as a redshirt freshman.

The Trojans will likely need to find help in the transfer portal to address all of their OL needs in 2023, but getting intriguing prospects in as freshmen next year to start developing for the future is equally as important.

No, USC didn't win any of the recruiting battles for four-star or five-star OL prospects it pursued this cycle, and the staff will eventually have to break through and find a way to land some of those highly-ranked linemen from Texas and the Southeast because of the perennial dearth of elite West Coast prospects.

But the Trojans have nonetheless assembled some solid pieces who project as potential starters up front in the future. It's a start.

What made Micah Banuelos a coveted offensive line prospect in this class?

Gorney: "He's not going to blow you away from a physical standpoint. Like when he walks in the room, he's not going to be the biggest guy or look the best, but he's a fighter, he's a mauler in there. He's going to be a guard who isn't really going to back down from people. So I think that's what USC liked a lot. Oregon was his dream school, so for USC to be able to pull him away was, one, a difficult decision for him and, two, says a lot about what Lincoln Riley and those guys can do. From an on-the-field standpoint, he's a guy who will continue to develop physically in a college weight program over the next three or four years -- will definitely be able to add muscle and weight. But he's not going to be this 6-4, 6-5, 320-pound offensive guard. That's just not his body frame right now."

Given that, what gives you confidence that he can be a difference-maker at the college level?