Douglass fulfills a childhood dream

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After a weekend of on-campus camps and closely evaluating local prospects, USC added a commitment from a 2018 offensive linemen that even the most diehard USC recruiting fans had not heard of.

That prospect would be 6-foot-5 and 274-pound Liam Douglass. The product of Harvard Westlake HS has flown under the radar for awhile but recently emerged as a sought after recruit. Including his scholarship offer from USC, Douglass is now up to 14 offers overall.

He committed to USC on Monday for many reasons, including an affinity he’s had for the school since childhood.

“I grew up watching Reggie Bush play and John David Booty, and those were kind of the guys that I always looked up to,” Douglass told TrojanSports.com. “Unfortunately it kind of took a while for me to get out there on the football field and try and go out there. But those were the guys that I looked up to and really watched. Kris O’Dowd was another guy that I really looked up to.”

O’Dowd, the former USC center, actually had an impact on Douglass’ life.

“He’s actually someone that I really look up to as a role model,” Douglass said. “He had helped out our middle school team. He and I have been talking and he’s been really somebody that I look up to and somebody that I model my game after.”

Since that time, Douglass hasn’t been around the game of football that much. In fact, he only started playing high school football very recently.

“I’ve only been playing football for 10 months now,” Douglass said. “Like I said, it took a little while to get out there on the field. But once I got the go ahead from my parents, I decided it was something I wanted to do for as long as I can. And so, I’m so thankful that they finally came around.”

But in that short period, Douglass went from a lanky teenager, who just wanted to be on the football team, to an offensive lineman being recruited by USC’s coaching staff.

“It’s been a nine year process in terms of getting out and playing football,” Douglass said. “So I always wanted to play since I was eight years old. And my parents were very hesitant about letting me play. So I made powerpoint presentations, I wrote essays on why I should play football. I broke down the science of why I should play football. So they finally let me play. I think my dad realized, I only have one high school experience and this is something I’ve wanted to do for really my entire life. And so he finally kind of came around to the idea. It was kind of a seamless transition. I played baseball beforehand but coming over into football, our head coach, Scott Ruggles, did a great job of making sure the transition was as easy as possible. And to be honest with you, I didn’t know I was going to be recruited. I was just so happy to be playing football that i wasn’t really focused on anything like that. I was just focused on getting to be the best football player I can be. So I sat down with our strength and conditioning coach and we came up with a meal plan and a strength plan in terms of getting me to where I wanted to be. And so it’s been a lot of hard work and I think these offers are a product of all the hard work I’ve put in. But if you told me I would be getting this much attention when I first stepped on the football field, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

He didn’t expect all the attention because, not too long ago, Douglass was a little light to be taken seriously as an offensive tackle.

“I came in, last August, when I first came on the football field, I weighed 218 pounds,” Douglass said. “I was 6-foot-5, 218. And like I said, I’m a very competitive person. And so I kind of wanted to play offensive line just because I know every play, there’s just such a high level of competition. You are responsible for the teams success up front. I definitely wanted to be a part of that but I knew I couldn’t be playing offensive line at 218 pounds. So I sat down with Kyle Casey, who’s the head football strength coach at Harvard Westlake and we came up with a meal plan, a lot more than just eating a lot more food. And then I’ve been in the weight room for six days a week for the past eight months. So it’s just trying to get as strong, fast and explosive as I can be while continuing to add that good weight. And I weighed in at 274 at the Opening. The first couple of months, definitely we saw a lot of good weight added and I continued to keep adding that good weight.”

After adding more than 50 pounds to his frame, Douglass started to capture the attention of schools across the country. Central Florida was the first school to offer a scholarship to Douglass. He says that happened “around February.”

“My family was definitely very proud of me,” Douglass said of his first scholarship offer. “They saw some of the hard work and getting up at 4:30 in the morning to go lift and all that good stuff. They saw that and I think they were just kind of happy that all the hard work paid off. And obviously they were very proud of me.”

But his family might have been even more proud of scholarship offer number 14, the one from USC.

“Coach Tee Martin actually came by during the spring to watch me and then he invited me out to camp,” Douglass said. “I had a good camp, and then I went out to the elite camp and had a good camp out there and they extended a scholarship offer. But I’d always wanted to go to USC, they were always at the top of the list in the back of my head so once the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it.”

After a short conversation with those close to him, Douglass decided he wanted to be a Trojan.

“Well USC has a very strong- I come from a very competitive school academically so obviously the academic side of USC was very appealing to me,” Douglass said. “They also have such a strong and storied winning tradition on the football side and I was able to work with the coaching staff a little at camp and just the attention to detail, I think it’s unparalleled. Those are all factors that played into my decision and I sat down with my family, we talked it over, and then I gave Coach Helton a call on the commitment.”

This has been an exciting time that Douglass will likely never forget.

“It was incredible,” Douglass said. “To go from playing at a camp and I didn’t go into the camp with the expectation of getting an offer. I went there to learn from Coach (Neil) Callaway and from some of the other current offensive line, USC players out there. I didn’t really go in with the expectation of getting an offer at all. I went there to learn as much as I could. But to come away with an offer is such a great feeling and obviously my family was just ecstatic because I had been talking about USC football since I was six or seven years old. And obviously they’re going to be very happy that I’m close to home. We can’t wait to get out to some games this season and they can’t wait to get out to watch me play.”

And his family’s excitement became very clear after Douglass announced the scholarship offer to them.

“A bunch of screaming and yelling and jumping up and down and excitement,” Douglass said when asked about the reaction. “It was kind of a wild ride.”

So could this prospect give any other school a chance?

“I’m 100% committed to USC,” Douglass said. “I’m really ready to dedicate myself to the Trojan family and help the team win, and the program be as strong as they can be.”

That means USC fans better get used to, and start to learn, about Douglass. And he believes those fans will like what they find out.

“Well I’m a very competitive person,” Douglass said. “The one thing that I hate in this world is losing. I think they’re going to see that I’m a highly competitive person who’s willing to do anything to help the Trojans win.”

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