USC Football Recruiting: Should Fans Worry About Manuel Allen’s Decommitment?

Should fans worry about four-star wide receiver Manuel Allen’s decommitment from USC football’s 2018 recruiting class?

High school football recruiting has always been—and continues to be—one of the most fluid processes in all of sports.

This is especially true of the verbal commitment, which is a non-binding agreement for a prep athlete to attend a college that captured their fancy at any given time.

Flush with excitement, young players of this sort will often fire off a tweet proclaiming their undying love for a particular college only to rescind it later for a variety of reasons, some real and some imagined.

Recently, four-star receiver Manuel Allen, who only committed to the Trojans in January, did just that, proclaiming that the process was now “all in God’s hands.”

Now it should be noted that people change their minds routinely and this is especially true of younger people who are often easily given to making quick and sometimes rash decisions.

It should also be noted that Allen is not obligated to explain his decision to anyone except perhaps his parents.

As is always the case, those who follow USC football should wish Allen well as he pursues his dream of playing college ball.

Now the question is whether this decommitment should be an area of concern for those who follow the men of Troy.

While the immediate answer would appear to be “yes,” a longer view of the issue may dictate otherwise.

In 2017, USC will have 11 wide receivers on their roster, including Deontay Burnett, Jalen Greene, Velus Jones, Josh Imatorbhebhe, Michael Pittman, Trevon Sidney, and Tyler Vaughns. The latter four were highly-touted recruits. All will have at least another year of eligibility after 2017.

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In addition, USC has offered no less than 19 wide receivers for the 2018 class. Among those are five-stars Jalen Hall and Amon-Ra St. Brown, along with highly regarded four-stars Brian Hightower, Chase Williams, Camren McDonald, Isaah Crocker and Kobe Smith, each of whom have been designated as “warm” to the Trojans overtures by 247Sports.

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And with USC likely to only take two or three wide receivers in the 2018 class, it would appear that the Trojans are in pretty good shape to fulfill those requirements in this recruiting cycle.

Ultimately, losing a player with the talent of Manuel Allen is not a good thing but this does not portend of calamity for the cardinal and gold going forward.

Given the fact that USC has greater areas of need, fans of the program should just sit tight and let the process play out.

With the recent success of head coach Clay Helton and his staff’s recruiting efforts, things should be just fine come Signing Day 2018.