Recruiting Rumblings: Top Mater Dei prospects talk positive changes at USC

There was a buzz going around between some of the top prospects Sunday at the Under Armour All-America regional camp in Mission Viejo about the moves USC was making this offseason.

"There's definitely hope. I've been hearing there's going to be some changes that are going to change the culture for sure. That's just the word around us recruits, that's what we're hearing," 2021 4-star wide receiver Cristian Dixon, of Mater Dei High School, said. "We've just been hearing there's going to be something that's recruit-changing, really."

Sure enough, a day later the news officially broke that USC had hired top recruiter and cornerbacks coach Donte Williams away from Oregon.

Dixon followed up on Twitter on Sunday to remind this reporter that he had said something big was on the way.

But it's not just the latest hire that was fueling the recent buzz.

"Domani and them, they've been telling me it's going the right path. Domani goes up there every other weekend," Dixon said of his Mater Dei teammate, 2022 standout cornerback Domani Jackson.

For Jackson, a top 2022 cornerback from Mater Dei, a big part of the program's positive momentum was the hiring of defensive coordinator Todd Orlando last month.

"The new defensive coordinator, man, he's hype. I think he can change it around, most definitely," Jackson said Sunday. "... They needed someone like him and I think he can change it."

Jackson is one of USC's priority targets in the 2022 class, and he met Orlando for the first time two Saturdays ago at the Trojans' big Junior Day event on campus.

USC's staff is making a concerted pitch to top local prospects that if they stayed home and joined forces with the Trojans, the program would be a national contender again quickly.