USC targets shine at Giant Skillz Camp
USC is currently evaluating offensive linemen across the state of California, waiting to determine the best of the best and offer scholarships to those prospects.
A few Trojan targets were present at this year’s first Giant Skillz OL/DL Camp in Temecula, Calif., a weekly get together to develop the “big uglies” from all around Southern California.
Below is our recruiting notebook from the first Giant Skillz Camp of the year and video of one-on-one drills.
Justin Dedich was recently contacted by a representative from USC who asked for his academic transcript. He says he’s now in contact with Eric Ziskin and early on, he feels like a priority for the class.
“They told me they like me a lot,” Dedich said.
Ziskin wants Dedich to visit USC’s campus soon and the young lineman says that could very much happen.
“I’m probably going to come by early spring and check out a practice,” Dedich said.
Dedich says he could visit UCLA sometime soon as well. As for other campus visits, he’ll wait and figure that out later. He doesn’t plan to take other visits until the summer and he’s in no rush to make a commitment.
If USC did offer a scholarship though, it seems that the Trojans seem would be high on his list of favorite schools.
“It is close to home so that would be an advantage,” Dedich said. “And I want to meet the new o-line coach and see how I fit in.”
Staff Take: Dedich reminds us of Brett Neilon a bit. He’s not going to wow anyone with his size but he’s a highly capable player on the inside. He’s a no-brainer scholarship offer for any school that’s trying to rebuild at guard or center. If USC feels that’s a need in this class, we could easily see this staff offering a scholarship to Dedich.
Eric Ziskin is currently in contact with Steven Jones and the Rivals250 offensive lineman says if the contact turned into a scholarship offer, USC would likely be one of his favorite schools.
“If they offered me and I kept getting more offers, I know for sure they would be in my top ten maybe top five,” Jones said.
And Jones has a few reasons to feel high on USC.
“I just like home close it’s to home and I really like their coaching staff and the Coliseum,” Jones said.
This young lineman says he’s trying to visit Oregon and TCU. Those two schools have offered him scholarships and in doing so, have captured his attention. He also wants to see USC soon.
“I want to get up there,” Jones said of USC.
Jones says USC is looking at him as a tackle and a guard, although he admits that when he camped at USC, he mostly played the guard position.
But he doesn’t really care if he plays on the interior or exterior of the offensive line. But he does prefer one side over the other.
“As long as it’s left side, I love the left side,” Jones said. “It was my first position ever and I like it. They put me on the right side and I didn’t like it so I went back to left.”
If USC needs to rebuild on the left side a bit, this could be the guy. And he plans to get proactive about his recruitment soon.
“I’m going to hit them up and talk to them about everything soon,” Jones said.
Staff Take: The attraction with Jones is that he would have the ability to slide out and play tackle for a few schools. For a school like USC though, he’s certainly a guard but an impressive athlete at that position. He does carry some bad weight and that has to change. He would probably be much more impressive in one-on-ones if he was in better shape.
Donovon Laie recently texted with USC coaches about the possibility of visiting campus and camping with USC in the summer.
He says he “hopefully” wants to get to USC for a spring practice or another event sometime soon. That’s because early on, he’s interested in the Trojans.
“I really like USC, the culture and the history and that they send a lot of people to the NFL,” Laie said.
But right now, all he has planned is one trip. And that visit is to a school in the Pac-12’s North Division.
“I’m for sure going to Washington this summer,” Laie said. “That’s all I know.”
For any school looking to add a couple of offensive tackles, a scholarship offer to Laie might be a smart move. He’s an impressive athlete that plays all five positions for his high school basketball team.
And one coach at this camp compared him to Rivals100 offensive lineman Penei Sewell. That’s a heck of a compliment.
Staff Take: Laie’s lone Pac-12 scholarship offer is from Oregon State and the Beavers have found an unknown gem in. He might be significantly underrated and our staff believes Laie could end up emerging as a name prospect later in the year.