From Jeff:
USC.rivals.com
The big news on Thursday came out of Arizona when the last unclaimed marquee 2023 recruit, five-star tight end Duce Robinson, announced his USC decision.
The Trojans already knew at that point, of course, as USC's football Twitter account announced the news soon thereafter -- which it can only do after a player has formally signed with the school.
Interestingly, the graphic USC tweeted out in doing so listed the 6-foot-6 225-pound Robinson as a wide receiver, while the news release the Trojans sent out called him a tight end, which is how he had been ranked by Rivals and other recruiting sites.
So which is it?
USC coach Lincoln Riley spoke about Robinson at length Saturday morning.
"Some of that will be getting him here, kind of finishing our evaluations of the players that are here this spring. Obviously getting him and Ja'Kobi [Lane] here and anybody else that becomes a part of that room, kind of seeing what the overall skill looks like and then trying to find the place where we feel like he can come in and give us the best advantages and make the biggest impact," Riley said.
"I certainly don't see him as a tight end. I think he's a guy who you could conceivably do a lot of things with, which has been our excitement in recruiting him. We've known Duce for almost four years. It was a three-and-a-half year recruitment. And so we've gotten to know him very well. We've gotten to see his body evolve and change a lot from Day 1. He's really kind of leaned out with running. He's gotten faster, more agile as the years have gone on because he was always pretty big. He's got a unique skill set, man, that we're fired up to add it to our good group right now. He's not going to be an every-down, on-the-ball tight end. I think we know that, no question."
Robinson, from Phoenix, Arizona, is a two-spot star who is also hoping to hear his name called in the MLB Draft in July. The Trojans won out for his commitment over Georgia, Texas and others.
As a senior at Pinnacle High School, he had 84 receptions for 1,614 yards (19.2 yards per catch) and 14 TDs and was selected to the 2023 Under Armour All-American Game and the 2023 Polynesian Bowl.
He had intimated during his recruitment that being used all over the field was an appeal to him and what both USC and Georgia pitched him on within their offenses.
"I would imagine he's a guy we'll have the opportunity to move around and do some unique things with because from a matchup standpoint, you can go out recruiting four or five years and not see that combination," Riley said. "It's a very unique combination of the skill set that he has and then just on top of it, just a tremendous person, a great family. He's the kid that in the age of all these big announcements, he drops the video and he's in the weight room with his dad and his family working out when it drops and we weren't even able to talk to him. That's just him, though. He's not flashy, great kid. His parents have done a great job with him. He's obviously got some cool things coming up and we're glad, obviously thrilled that we get to be the ones that get the chance to do this next step with him."
Robinson joins an already impressive group of pass catchers, but the Trojans don't have a lot of 6-foot-6 targets roaming around. Brenden Rice, at 6-foot-3 is the only truly big wide receiver USC has, and the aforementioned 6-foot-5 Ja'Kobi Lane arrives as a freshman this summer.
"Yeah, I think with the last two spots in the high school class in terms of the offensive skill, that's what we wanted to attack. We got a little bit bigger there. Obviously Ja'Kobi Lane brings some of that, certainly Duce brings some of that, [tight end signee] Walker Lyons, when he gets here, certainly brings some of that," Riley said, referencing that Lyons won't join the program until 2024 after serving a one-year LDS mission.
"We've been able to add some real speed. We got some juice in that room. So you start to mix up the skill sets, I think that could be a fun combination to work with and we're pretty pumped about. I think he fits a need. It [will] be fun to get him and Ja'Kobi and some of these guys here and throw them in the mix with our guys, feel like we'll have a chance to put out a pretty good product in terms of our skill position."
While signing Robinson is obviously a big win for USC, there is still the baseball matter.
He is expected to be drafted in the MLB Draft in July, depending on what MLB team is going to take a chance on a two-sport guy seemingly intent on playing college football.
Of course, Riley has some experience with that in coaching two-sport prospect Kyler Murray at Texas Tech, although Murray transferred into Riley's Oklahoma program from Texas A&M.
"Duce has big goals in both sports, and I think there was some comfort factor there because I think that it matched some of the other guys that we've been able to coach. So we were able to have some very real conversations about that," Riley said. "I think the expectation is, I certainly don't pretend to be a baseball expert but I think there's a good chance that Duce is going to be drafted and very potentially a good chance that he gets drafted high. And I think if that's what happens I think his intention is to sign a professional contract and then play college football, which he can do now. So if that does not happen, then I think all options are on the table in terms of potentially playing both here at 'SC. So we'll see how it evolves.
"But I know this, there's two kind of knowns right now. One, he's going to play football at USC. Two, baseball is going to be a big part of his future, which is obviously really exciting. There's some comfort level in the fact we've been able to do it with a couple of guys, including one pretty high-profile guy that worked out well. I think the ultimate goal in this is like it was for Kyler, my hope is at the end of his career at USC that he's in a position where he can pick. That was a pretty fun spot to get to with the other guy. It's hard to do; it's really, really hard to do. But Duce has the ability to do it and so it's been fun kind of visiting through that plan. A lot of good talks with him and his family and a lot of people in both sports. I feel like we have a tremendous plan ready to put out there and then it's going to be up to Duce to do the work from there."
Robinson is ranked a top 200 baseball recruit according to Baseball America. While the situation is very similar to Murray's, Robinson's desire to play professional baseball has seemed as strong as his desire to play football at USC whenever he's talked about it.
But certainly, the Murray situation had to be a big selling point for Robinson as the QB did play both sports at Oklahoma, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and was previously selected as the No. 9 overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft, signing with the Oakland A's, who still hold his rights if he chooses to switch sports at any point.
TrojanSports - Lincoln Riley talks plan for two-sport, five-star USC recruit Duce Robinson
Lincoln Riley talked at length about the addition of five-star two-sport recruit Duce Robinson.
USC.rivals.com
The big news on Thursday came out of Arizona when the last unclaimed marquee 2023 recruit, five-star tight end Duce Robinson, announced his USC decision.
The Trojans already knew at that point, of course, as USC's football Twitter account announced the news soon thereafter -- which it can only do after a player has formally signed with the school.
Interestingly, the graphic USC tweeted out in doing so listed the 6-foot-6 225-pound Robinson as a wide receiver, while the news release the Trojans sent out called him a tight end, which is how he had been ranked by Rivals and other recruiting sites.
So which is it?
USC coach Lincoln Riley spoke about Robinson at length Saturday morning.
"Some of that will be getting him here, kind of finishing our evaluations of the players that are here this spring. Obviously getting him and Ja'Kobi [Lane] here and anybody else that becomes a part of that room, kind of seeing what the overall skill looks like and then trying to find the place where we feel like he can come in and give us the best advantages and make the biggest impact," Riley said.
"I certainly don't see him as a tight end. I think he's a guy who you could conceivably do a lot of things with, which has been our excitement in recruiting him. We've known Duce for almost four years. It was a three-and-a-half year recruitment. And so we've gotten to know him very well. We've gotten to see his body evolve and change a lot from Day 1. He's really kind of leaned out with running. He's gotten faster, more agile as the years have gone on because he was always pretty big. He's got a unique skill set, man, that we're fired up to add it to our good group right now. He's not going to be an every-down, on-the-ball tight end. I think we know that, no question."
Robinson, from Phoenix, Arizona, is a two-spot star who is also hoping to hear his name called in the MLB Draft in July. The Trojans won out for his commitment over Georgia, Texas and others.
As a senior at Pinnacle High School, he had 84 receptions for 1,614 yards (19.2 yards per catch) and 14 TDs and was selected to the 2023 Under Armour All-American Game and the 2023 Polynesian Bowl.
He had intimated during his recruitment that being used all over the field was an appeal to him and what both USC and Georgia pitched him on within their offenses.
"I would imagine he's a guy we'll have the opportunity to move around and do some unique things with because from a matchup standpoint, you can go out recruiting four or five years and not see that combination," Riley said. "It's a very unique combination of the skill set that he has and then just on top of it, just a tremendous person, a great family. He's the kid that in the age of all these big announcements, he drops the video and he's in the weight room with his dad and his family working out when it drops and we weren't even able to talk to him. That's just him, though. He's not flashy, great kid. His parents have done a great job with him. He's obviously got some cool things coming up and we're glad, obviously thrilled that we get to be the ones that get the chance to do this next step with him."
Robinson joins an already impressive group of pass catchers, but the Trojans don't have a lot of 6-foot-6 targets roaming around. Brenden Rice, at 6-foot-3 is the only truly big wide receiver USC has, and the aforementioned 6-foot-5 Ja'Kobi Lane arrives as a freshman this summer.
"Yeah, I think with the last two spots in the high school class in terms of the offensive skill, that's what we wanted to attack. We got a little bit bigger there. Obviously Ja'Kobi Lane brings some of that, certainly Duce brings some of that, [tight end signee] Walker Lyons, when he gets here, certainly brings some of that," Riley said, referencing that Lyons won't join the program until 2024 after serving a one-year LDS mission.
"We've been able to add some real speed. We got some juice in that room. So you start to mix up the skill sets, I think that could be a fun combination to work with and we're pretty pumped about. I think he fits a need. It [will] be fun to get him and Ja'Kobi and some of these guys here and throw them in the mix with our guys, feel like we'll have a chance to put out a pretty good product in terms of our skill position."
While signing Robinson is obviously a big win for USC, there is still the baseball matter.
He is expected to be drafted in the MLB Draft in July, depending on what MLB team is going to take a chance on a two-sport guy seemingly intent on playing college football.
Of course, Riley has some experience with that in coaching two-sport prospect Kyler Murray at Texas Tech, although Murray transferred into Riley's Oklahoma program from Texas A&M.
"Duce has big goals in both sports, and I think there was some comfort factor there because I think that it matched some of the other guys that we've been able to coach. So we were able to have some very real conversations about that," Riley said. "I think the expectation is, I certainly don't pretend to be a baseball expert but I think there's a good chance that Duce is going to be drafted and very potentially a good chance that he gets drafted high. And I think if that's what happens I think his intention is to sign a professional contract and then play college football, which he can do now. So if that does not happen, then I think all options are on the table in terms of potentially playing both here at 'SC. So we'll see how it evolves.
"But I know this, there's two kind of knowns right now. One, he's going to play football at USC. Two, baseball is going to be a big part of his future, which is obviously really exciting. There's some comfort level in the fact we've been able to do it with a couple of guys, including one pretty high-profile guy that worked out well. I think the ultimate goal in this is like it was for Kyler, my hope is at the end of his career at USC that he's in a position where he can pick. That was a pretty fun spot to get to with the other guy. It's hard to do; it's really, really hard to do. But Duce has the ability to do it and so it's been fun kind of visiting through that plan. A lot of good talks with him and his family and a lot of people in both sports. I feel like we have a tremendous plan ready to put out there and then it's going to be up to Duce to do the work from there."
Robinson is ranked a top 200 baseball recruit according to Baseball America. While the situation is very similar to Murray's, Robinson's desire to play professional baseball has seemed as strong as his desire to play football at USC whenever he's talked about it.
But certainly, the Murray situation had to be a big selling point for Robinson as the QB did play both sports at Oklahoma, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and was previously selected as the No. 9 overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft, signing with the Oakland A's, who still hold his rights if he chooses to switch sports at any point.
