**TrojanSports.com is taking an in-depth look at this 2021 USC recruiting class position-by-position, including film room evaluations on present commits and breakdowns of what to expect the rest of the way. We started with the defensive backs on Tuesday and linebackers on Wednesday.
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It's not fair to suggest that USC's 2021 recruiting class pivots on the decision of one prospect -- the Trojans have addressed too many important needs with top-tier talent for that to be the case -- but the reality is the perception of the class will nonetheless reverberate accordingly with the decision of No. 1 national recruit Korey Foreman.
Foreman, the 5-star defensive end from Corona Centennial High School, has been THE priority for the Trojans this cycle, and since his de-commitment from Clemson back in the spring hopes have amplified that he may stay close to home after all.
We'll get more into that, but the larger point regarding USC's defensive line recruiting -- as we touched on yesterday in our look at the linebackers -- is that the Trojans still have the most work to do here among all position groups.
USC holds commitments from 4-star defensive tackle Jay Toia (Grace Brethren HS) and 3-star defensive end Colin Mobley (DeMatha HS/Hyattsville, Md.), but it maintains a number of strong active leads along the D-line that could really further establish this recruiting class as one of the best in the country.
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Let's start with a deeper look inside the film room at the Trojans' two commits and then segue into where things stand with the rest of the remaining targets:
Defensive tackle Jay Toia
Commitment date: June 12, 2018
How he fits USC's needs: Toia is a space-eater, and while we still need to see how new defensive coordinator Todd Orlando mixes between 3-down and 4-down defensive fronts, it's easy to see Toia being an effective cog in the middle either way. The Trojans could lose interior defensive line stalwarts Jay Tufele and Marlon Tuipulotu to the NFL after this next season, along with productive senior Brandon Pili, so restocking at defensive tackle was key. After landing a couple intriguing DT prospects last cycle in Kobe Pepe and Jamar Sekona, and with Toia committed in this class, those needs have largely been addressed -- especially if USC moves to more three-down fronts.
Film room evaluation by TrojanSports.com's Alec Simpson: "Toia is an interior defensive line addition that USC fans should be excited about. Checking in at 6-foot-3, 320 pounds, he brings a high motor right in his get-off from the line of scrimmage and a physicality factor to his game when engaging with opposing linemen. When watching him on tape, Toia does a terrific job of engaging violent hands on opposing offensive linemen, then shedding blockers in order to make a play in the backfield. At 0:50 seconds in the first highlight video, Toia shows what he can do accelerating out of his stance ad pursuing the quarterback to get a sack in the backfield.
"At 6-foot-3, it isn’t always easy to tell a defensive tackle to get lower out of his three-point stance, but that’s exactly what Toia needs to do to be more explosive. The lower man always wins in the trenches, and for Toia, he has so much power and leverage from his lower body as well as his upper body -- what would make his game elite would be exploding out of that stance lower and engaging with physical hand usage with the opposing linemen. Toia brings a skill set that will really benefit on the interior defensive line for the Trojans and with some coaching could really develop into something special at USC."
Rivals analyst Adam Gorney's scouting report: "The first thing that stands out about him is he's just a massive kid in the middle, so he's going to take up a lot of space. He's not like this gap-shooting defensive tackle that's going to be in the backfield all the time, but at the high school level when he only has to get past one blocker he can definitely do it and make a lot of problems for people. He usually deals with two blockers, and so it's just tough to make any significant impact in that sense. But he has decent speed for a guy his size, he can track people down, he's an impressive guy there and he's definitely an impact player.
"The one question I've had about him for a few years now is he never really shows up to big events to really dominate those events. The guys that are super elite sometimes want to show up and show that they're the best player in the country. He's a guy that for one reason or another hasn't been on the camp scene as much. It's easy to push people over and around at Grace Brethren sometimes, but going up against elite linemen at that level, that's what I would have liked to have seen. But on tape a very, very impressive kid -- big body and makes a lot of plays."
