USC Recruiting: Move Over Mater Dei, Eastern Christian is the New Pipeline

Credit- US Presswire

For years, Mater Dei has been a huge pipeline into USC, with players like Matt Leinart, Matt Grootegoed, and current USC quarterback, Matt Barkley, who is pictured above during his huge overtime win against Carson back in 2008. But, suddenly, there’s a new kid on the block, and it’s not Oaks Christian. Eastern Christian Academy in Maryland will play their first ever season this fall, but they’ll be led by two USC commits, Kenny Bigelow and David Sills.

Word came out last week that Eastern Christian was taking in 30 players from Red Lion Christian Academy to start their football program. Now, let that sit in for a second. Thirty transfers. Can you imagine Long Beach Poly having 30 incoming transfers from Servite? Well, this case is an interesting one, as according to a Max Preps article from Friday, Red Lion’s administration decided to ditch the Oaks Christian/St. Thomas Aquinas approach of being a national televised travel team, opting to play within the confines of Delaware’s high school norms. Therefore, 30 Red Lion players have made the trek to Elkton, Maryland to begin to enroll at Eastern Christian.

But unlike normal high schools or academies, Eastern Christian is a “virtual school” predicated on a cyber learning enviornment. So apparently, USC has gone from attracting test-tube quarterbacks like Todd Marinovich, to digital bluechip phenoms, like David Sills.

Quarterback David Sills is the uber-famous Class of 2015 recruit that Lane Kiffin offer a scholarship back in 2010, when Sills was just a whisker-less seventh grader. He’ll headline the program at Eastern Christian for three years, while  on the defensive side of the ball, they’re led by Kenny Bigelow, a 6’4″ 280 pound defensive end that is listed as the sixth best player in the country according to Rivals, and a USC commit since November. For the time being, Bigelow is the lone member of the Trojans’ incoming Class of 2013, but that may change on Sunday, when Chris Hawkins makes his decision.

So what are the odds that USC has commitments from two high schoolers 3,000 miles away? Seemingly slim, but it serves has more of a safe guard of retaining commitments, considering that USC has had a problem retaining early high profile commitments in recent history, with Arik Armstead and De’Anthony Thomas finding themselves in Eugene.

Sills said back in 2010 that he and his father have always been big USC fans, and couple his fandom with Bigelow’s ability to take over for Devon Kennard and Wes Horton in 2013, one would think that the Trojans have a solid chance retaining the two Eastern Christian Academy boys. Plus, the plot thickens when you take into account that the Trojans are hot on the trail for a third Eastern Christian commitment, as James Cregg has been assigned to wrangle in the big 300 pound guard on the offensive line, Khaliel Rodgers. Should Rodgers come west along with Bigelow as part of USC’s Class of 2013, the pipeline will be officially formed, don’t you think?