USC Football Official Visit Weekend Gives Huge Vote Of Confidence To Trojans

Oct 20, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the NCAA football game between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Southern California Trojans. USC defeated Colorado, 50-6. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

When Trojan commit LB Michael Hutchings began tweeting with the “#SCOfficial” hashtag he penned, he invited all of Twitter to partake in USC’s mass official visit weekend with him.

In doing so, he gave Southern California a PR boost that it needed after a season of struggles and head scratches.

Hutchings and eight other recruits or commits were in LA this past weekend, considering USC as the program to give their talents to come National Signing Day. Based on their tweets, these highly sought after high school athletes had the time of their lives:

The recruits raved about their official visit on Twitter; the experience was so great that three commits effectively shut down their recruitment process afterwards.

OL Nico Falah tweeted an Instragrammed photo of himself with the caption “I’m home”, where he is donning a USC jersey and gloves in the locker room.

For Eddie Vanderdoes, the visit definitely helped to keep USC in the forefront of his mind, though he has not yet decided if he wants to give his alliance back to Troy.

Less than three weeks before National Signing Day, this is exactly the kind of vote of confidence from the next generation of Trojan athletes that USC wants as it leaves the 2012 debacle in the past while planning for the future.

It would come as no surprise if more de-commitments came to Troy after everything that transpired this season, but save for a few exceptions, USC’s class of 2013 commits are staying put.

If there was one thing USC needed at this time, it’s a dose of good, constructive press. Thanks to Hutchings–who spearheaded the effort to corral then-recruits and interests of USC last summer at The Opening–the Trojans got plenty of face-time on Twitter over the weekend, and the confidence these commits have in the program could go a long way in righting Troy’s ship in 2013.