DE Grant Buckey announces USC commitment coming off official visit

USC hosted four official visitors last weekend and has now received commitments from two of them, as three-star defensive end Grant Buckey announced his Trojans commitment on Wednesday.

Buckey, from Liberty High School in Bakersfield, Calif., is the ninth commit in this 2023 recruiting class for USC and the first on the defensive line.

Buckey went in-depth with TrojanSports.com earlier this week about his visit and why the Trojans were a great fit for him.

"The chance to go play for a national championship I think is what they're really gunning for there, whereas other schools are just focused on winning the conference, which is not a problem. That's a great thing to do. But I think that I like their goals there," he said. "And then outside of football I think they have a lot of good life after football opportunities, business, real estate -- whatever you want to get into there's a lot of good opportunities there."

Buckey also developed a strong connection with Trojans defensive line coach Shaun Nua through the process, and he becomes the first high school defensive lineman to commit to the Trojans since Nua arrived as part of the new staff.

"He's a great guy. He's one of my favorite coaches I've talked with in this recruiting process. Great coach," Buckey said. "And he's really interested in keeping the player, as a man and a person, keeping them healthy and positive spirits and that kind of thing. So, great guy."

Buckey was supposed to take a final official visit to Cal later this month, after previously visiting UCLA last month, and then make a decision in July.

But the weekend visit with the Trojans expedited that decision.

"It was awesome. I got to learn a lot, definitely see a lot of things that I wanted to see. It was really good," he said. "I think just getting to spend more time with the players and getting more one-on-one time kind of affects a lot, you get to ask those big questions and stuff. The first visit you kind of feel it out, you come back and you have those things you want to find out. ...

"I wouldn't say [this visit] changed too much. It definitely boosted my opinion of them, but I already had a very high [opinion]. It's USC, it's a very historical school. I'm glad to see that Coach Riley and his staff, Coach Nua, they definitely seem like they're going there to make a big change from recent years so it's definitely exciting to see."

His brother Zach Buckey is a sophomore defensive lineman at Stanford, but Grant Buckey said earlier in the recruiting process that he wanted to create his own path.

He is the third defensive commit overall for USC, joining four-star defensive backs Braxton Myers and Christian Pierce.

Buckey's commitment comes a couple days after offensive lineman Tobias Raymond committed to USC coming off that same official visit weekend.

What is your evaluation of Grant Buckey as a defensive end prospect?

Gorney: "He's a great looking kid. He's all of 6-5, he's about 265 so he's a big, long kid that comes off the edge and gets after it. He can deal with double-teams, he can use his speed to the edge, he can be physical inside. And what I like most about his game is he kind of comes off the edge with a little bit of reckless abandon, but then quickly kind of centers himself to make the tackle. He's not overrunning a lot of plays, he's not running by the quarterback when steps up in the pocket. He's getting people on the ground and that's really the most important thing for a defensive end."

How did you see his recruitment unfold?

Gorney: "He had been getting offers and I think as coaches see him in person they've gotten a lot more interested. Mainly Pac-12 schools -- that's not uncommon for kids from the Central Valley or not in the urban areas of California to be a little bit underrecruited. I thought Stanford had a chance and I thought some other Pac-12 schools had a chance, but USC came in and got him and I think it's going to be a nice addition because he's physically ready to play. I wish he had a little bit more of a burst, a little more athleticism. We'll see how that kind of translates to the Pac-12, but in terms of a big physical kid that gets people on the ground he's a very talented player."