USC freshmen WRs showing they can contribute immediately

Senior Michael Pittman says there always seems to be one newcomer from the USC wide receiver group who proves ready to contribute immediately.

"One of them is always just ready to play, and we'll find out which one that is -- if not all of them," he said Tuesday after the Trojans' fourth preseason practice.

USC hasn't even had its two highest-rated freshmen wideouts available in camp yet with 5-star standout Bru McCoy sidelined by injury and 4-star prospect Kyle Ford being eased back as part of his recovery from ACL surgery last fall.

But the other two summer newcomers -- freshmen Munir McClain and Drake London --have indeed seized their opportunities.

The duo has earned praise from head coach Clay Helton in two of his three media sessions so far, and their immediate upside was on full display again Tuesday.

London, the 4-star dual-sport prospect from Moorpark HS who will also compete with the USC basketball team, turned heads with a one-handed grab in the corner of the end zone during one-on-one drills, while McClain just continues to show his 3-star recruiting ranking greatly belied his potential.

During one series in 11-on-11 Tuesday, the former JSerra HS standout made a great sideline catch, toeing the line on a pass from fellow freshman Kedon Slovis, and then two plays later caught a short pass from JT Daniels, shook the approaching defensive back and picked up significant yards after the catch.

A little later, McClain burned cornerback Greg Johnson down the right sideline to haul in an absolute dime from Slovis for a completion of 40-50 yards.

"Coming into that [WR] room, that's a tough room to enter just because you've got some dominant personalities in there and you've just got some great competitors. So to step into that room, to be honest with you, you're either going to kind of turn into a dude or you're going to be out of there," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "That's just the room you're stepping into, and those two guys have done a great job stepping in, making plays and just adapting to the room and adapting to the culture of that room."

McClain in particular was overshadowed in USC's 2019 recruiting class as the lowest-rated of the four WR signees (ranked the No. 65 wideout nationally). He has told the story that recruiting interest in him dried up when he tore his ACL and meniscus midway through his junior season. USC was the one school that kept communicating with him before offering him that spring. He committed soon thereafter and really had no other schools try to steal him away the rest of that recruiting cycle.

Which all seems hard to fathom now seeing him action as a smooth 6-foot-4 wideout with good speed who catches everything thrown his way.

Daniels was asked if McClain had surprised him to this point and his answer summed it up perfectly.

RELATED: USC Next Up series: Overshadowed in recruiting, WR Munir McClain making an immediate impression

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