Five-star USC commit to take five visits
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Palaie Gaoteote committed to USC back in February and says he's solidly committed still. But for five-star prospects, committing and staying committed is never that easy.
The 6-foot-2 and 235-pound linebacker says Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA and "a few other schools" are still recruiting him.
"There are still a lot of people in there pushing and trying to see if I could get out there for an official or a visit," Gaoteote told TrojanSports.com. "They're just pushing to see if I could flip."
While Gaoteote says he's still loyal to USC, he admits he'll visit other schools.
"I want to take all my visits," Gaoteote said. "Right now I really don't have schools on my mind that I want to visit I just know that I want to take all five of them."
His family is also pushing him to review all his options.
"I just think it's something that my parents want to experience and see what different schools out there have," Gaoteote said. "Not only for me but for my family in general. That's probably one of the main points of getting up there and taking officials."
Although Gaoteote listed name programs that are still after him, he isn't yet sure of which schools he'll visit.
"That's something I really don't know myself honestly," Gaoteote said when asked which schools he would visit. "That's something that probably as the time gets closer or towards the end of the season, when the timing is right, that's probably something that I'll talk to my parents about in the future."
When strongly pressed by this publication about his pledge to USC, the product of Bishop Gorman HS expressed he was still a Trojan.
"I'm still solid on my commitment to USC," Gaoteote said.
He says there's a very low chance he breaks that commitment.
"Honestly, I'm 100-percent committed to it," Gaoteote said of USC. "The chances of me de-committing, it would have to be something really crazy. But there's probably nothing that could ever make me de-commit from that school."
USC coaches, however, will continue to recruit Gaoteote they way they recruit top prospects who haven't yet made a decision. USC's Johnny Nansen visited Bishop Gorman HS "probably two weeks ago" according to the young star. And outside of the spring evaluation visits, the two keep up regularly.
"They're just keeping me updated with how the team is doing and how they're practicing and all the team news," Gaoteote said when asked about USC's staff. "Basically our conversations have to do with, there's a lot of school stuff and football stuff that I'm wondering."
Gaoteote says he might visit USC in the summer for its camp but he doesn't expects to participate. He believes his brother, 2021 linebacker Maa Gaoteote, will camp with Trojan coaches.