USC Football Recruiting: Safety is No Worry in 2018

Even though Jaiden Woodbey pledged for Ohio State, USC football recruiting has hit a gold mine at safety recently and has no worries at safety for the 2018 cycle.

Recently, St. John Bosco safety Jaiden Woodbey gave his verbal commitment to Ohio State, picking the Buckeyes over hometown favorite USC football.

Claiming he would “shock the world” with his choice, Woodbey will join his former teammate, offensive lineman Wyatt Davis, who signed with Ohio State in the 2017 recruiting cycle.

The Buckeyes will get a supremely athletic defensive back who should make a difference for Ohio State for the foreseeable future.

At 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, Woodbey will only get bigger and better as he enters a big-time college program who is sure to develop him through his college years.

So, while Woodbey would certainly have looked good in cardinal and gold, there is one question Trojan fans should ask themselves regarding his pledge to Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes.

Does it matter that USC lost out on a player with Woodbey’s talent?

In a word…no.

Currently, the Trojans list eight safeties on the 2017 roster, led by likely starters Marvell Tell and Chris Hawkins, and with the exception John Plattenburg, a senior, and Matt Lopes, whose availability in 2017 is unclear, the rest of those who are likely to see playing time this year are either sophomores or freshmen.

They will be joined by incoming freshmen Bubba Bolden and Isaiah Pola-Mao, both highly touted four-star players.

Both Bolden and Pola-Mao are players who will see the field of play sooner rather than later and that’s not all when it comes to the Trojans’ plans in the future at this position.

Currently, USC has offered no less than five prep safeties, two of which—Aashari Crosswell and Steve Stephens—are 247sports.com four-star prospects who are listed as “warm” by the recruiting service to those Trojan overtures.

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Also, this early in the 2018 recruiting cycle, USC is bound to offer more prep players as time goes by this season.

And let’s not forget the annual magic that USC whips on its competition on letter of intent signing day—a date which the Trojans continue to own when it comes to signing big time recruits.

So, to those Trojan fans who may be wringing their hands over losing out on Woodbey, my advice is to relax and let the USC recruiting brain trust do its thing for the 2018 prep recruiting class.

After all, head coach Clay Helton and his staff have done a great job recruiting in their short time leading the men of Troy so far.

And this should continue for 2018 recruiting class and beyond.