Lincoln Riley and his staff are still working to close the 2023 recruiting cycle strong, but on Wednesday they added another early commitment for their 2024 class.
Three-star wide receiver/tight end Joey Olsen, from Lake Oswego, Ore., announced the news via Twitter.
Olsen and his family visited the Trojans back in June.
Olsen, listed at 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, has 6 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns through the first two games for Lakeridge High School, per MaxPreps. He had 28 catches for 727 yards and 7 touchdowns in 11 games last season, averaging an incredible 26 yards per catch.
Olsen is already USC's fourth commit for the 2024 class (the Trojans are fifth in the very early 2024 team recruiting rankings), joining four-star linebacker Dylan Williams (Long Beach Poly HS), four-star WR Jason Robinson (Long Beach Poly HS) and four-star ATH Aaron Butler (Calabasas HS).
Is Joey Olsen a tight end, a wide receiver, where do you see him fitting in at the next level?
Gorney: "He reminds me a little bit of Mark Andrews in high school who was kind of adamant on playing wide receiver, but we all sort of knew he was going to grow into a tight end, and once he got to Oklahoma that's exactly what happened. In a similar fashion, Grant Calcaterra was another one who kind of wanted to play wide receiver, though he could maybe be on the outside there, but once he got to college kind of grew into a tight end. And this is a very similar situation, and it's very unique because it's also kind of a Lincoln Riley guy -- 6-5, 200 pounds. He plays basically outside receiver in high school. He's run 4.51, so he has decent speed, but if he gets to 6-5, 230-235 by the time he gets into his college career here, he's going to be a tight end. I think he's going to essentially end up being a tight end over the long haul, which is certainly no knock on him -- it's just where he's going to be most useful in the offense."