Certainly, there has been ample evidence already this spring to show that USC recruiting is in a far different place than it was just four months ago. But that was especially reinforced Monday as 4-star Rivals100 quarterback Miller Moss announced his commitment to the Trojans.
With Jake Garcia (the No. 3-ranked pro-style QB and No. 25 overall national prospect) committing to USC back in the fall and Moss (No. 7 pro-style QB, No. 91 overall prospect) on board now, the Trojans are the only program in the country holding commitments from two top-10 QBs.
USC needed to double up at the position after losing JT Daniels as a transfer to Georgia last week, leaving only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster this year in sophomore Kedon Slovis and redshirt senior Matt Fink. Fink will be gone before Garcia and Moss arrive, leaving those two to compete behind Slovis if their commitments hold through the end of this process.
In the big picture, meanwhile, Moss is the 14th USC commit in this 2021 class, the fourth Rivals100 commit and the ninth Rivals250 commit. The Trojans also now have commits from 6 of the top 25 prospects in the state of California.
Not that anyone needed a reminder, but USC signed only one Rivals250 prospect in the 2020 cycle and just one of the top 25 in-state prospects.
As for Moss, the standout from Bishop Alemany High School, he went in-depth on his decision with TrojanSports.com.
RELATED: LISTEN: Miller Moss joins the Trojan Talk podcast to discuss his USC decision | Commitment Analysis: What USC is getting in Moss | Comparing USC QB commits Miller Moss and Jake Garcia
"There were so many different factors that went into choosing a school, and I felt that each of my final four schools provided unique things that were specific to that school that provided me with a great opportunity," he said. "At the end of the day USC has just always been home for me. It wasn't really something tangible -- it's more of a feeling you get. There's so many great options, but there's a feeling you get when you're at a facility, when you try on a uniform and this just feels right, when you're sitting in the Coliseum in front of 90,000 people and you're like, this is truly where I want to be, this is what's going to make me happy."
Moss' other finalists were UCLA, Alabama and LSU.
As he explained, he valued a variety of factors and that led him see this process through as long as he could. Ultimately, he was not able to visit LSU (he had visited Alabama and UCLA) because of the coronavirus pandemic, but he reiterated multiple times that he has full peace of mind in his decision and won't be taking visits anywhere but USC now that he's made his decision.
"I'm someone who's interested in a multitude of things. So if this was purely a football decision, it's easy to cut out certain schools -- it's easy to cut out maybe UCLA in that situation. If this is purely an academic decision, it's easy to cut out Alabama or LSU. So there's a multitude of things that went into my college decision that I don't think go into every recruited athlete's decision," he explained.
"I would say the last month or so [USC] was definitely something I was leaning towards. The difficult thing with the process is you're in contact with these schools so often -- especially during coronavirus -- so you get off the phone with coach [Graham] Harrell and coach [Clay] Helton and you're like, this is the place I want to be, I know in my heart. And then you talk to someone like coach [Nick Saban at Alabama] or Coach O [Ed Orgeron at LSU] and they're really, really good at what they do. For a couple weeks there was still that, I don't want to lose out on opportunities and stuff like that, but when I really sat with myself and my family and my thoughts and put all that extra noise out the window -- just kind of the flash that comes with recruitment, stuff that isn't really of meaning but is meant to make you feel good and make you feel wanted at a school -- USC was really, really the place for me."
Moss told Helton of his decision in a FaceTime conversation and then heard from the rest of the staff over the next hour.
"I felt like USC genuinely wanted me and needed me to be a part of their program, which was a huge thing for me in the process," he said. "It was a really special moment -- it's something that I'll remember where I was sitting in my room, sitting at my desk, my computer, it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. And just running around the house playing the USC fight song on the speaker for like the next hour or whatever it was. It was a really, really special moment and one that will be special for me for a very long time."