At one point, this figured to be one of the spotlight games on the schedule this fall for 4-star wide receiver Kyle Ford, as his Orange Lutheran High School team squared off Friday night at national power St. John Bosco.
The recruiters -- and football fans, period -- would have enjoyed watching Ford, one of the top WR prospects in this 2019 class, match up against 5-star cornerback Chris Steele.
A torn ACL a little more than a week earlier ended Ford's senior season prematurely, and so instead of going head-to-head with the receiver, Steele -- a USC commit -- used the opportunity to reinforce his pitch that the two should play on the same side the next few years.
"Shoot, first thing I came out here, he was telling me, 'Hey man, we've got to get you to USC.' He's like, 'I'm waiting for you to join,'" Ford said after watching the game from the sideline. "Of course, that's my boy and he played great tonight. So seeing him, going against that competition every day, we're both big competitors. I was even talking crap on the sideline to him and I'm not even playing right now. So he knows how it goes, but it's all love."
