Pili picks USC

HONOLULU - - The inaugural Polynesian Bowl featured some of the country’s best football talent and may have been worth watching just for that reason. But this new high school all-star bowl game was also worth watching for breaking news, as some of those top prospects made college commitments throughout the night.

Brandon Pili was in that lineup waiting to make his pledge on ESPN3. The 6-foot-4 and 310 pound defensive tackle was choosing between Oregon State and USC, in addition to holding scholarship offers from the Beavers and the Trojans, Pili also had the opportunity to commit to schools such as Colorado, Mississippi, Notre Dame and UCLA.

On Saturday, Pili picked USC over all those schools. He spoke wth TrojanSports.com prior to game about why he had pledged to the Trojans.

“It really felt like home,” Pili said of USC. “Just great people, great coaches, great atmosphere.”

When asked what decided it for him, Pili pointed to a few different factors.

“It’s close to home, it’s my dream school and I like the weather,” Pili said.

That makes sense since Pili is from Alaska and was used to the extreme cold before playing his senior year of football in Oregon. But the football at USC also helped make this happen. The Trojans finished third in the final AP poll this season after winning the Rose Bowl.

Pili sees the potential for a national championship during his time on campus, which isn’t something every school can offer.

“I think we’re in contention for a national championship to be honest,” Pili said. “Because although we have eleven starters leaving, we still have a lot of good talent coming in for the class of 2017.”

But USC will need more help along the defensive line if the Trojans are going to win a national title in the next few years. And TrojanSports.com thinks Pili is just the guy that can help a team along the trenches. We were in Honolulu and watched Pili at a couple of practices. Despite the fact that he’s universally ranked as a three-star prospect, we would compare him favorably to many other defensive tackle prospects with scholarship offers from USC. That list includes some prospects in the Rivals250.

Pili seems to believe in his potential as well. When asked if he was trying to make an impact along USC’s defensive line immediately, he grinned before he answered.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Pili said.