USC Football Recruiting: Nico Falah Commits to the USC Trojans

Credit: Greg Biggins, via Twitter

The Summer of Highly-Touted Commitments keeps on chugging for Lane Kiffin, as the USC Trojans picked up the verbal commitment of 4-star offensive lineman for the second time today, as Nico Falah pledges his name to USC’s Class of 2013this evening.

Falah announced his decision at high school, St. John Bosco in Downey, and becomes the lucky 13th commitment for USC in the Class of 2013, after Khaliel Rodgers became the 12th this afternoon.

For a school with a limited amount of scholarships, it’s panning out for USC just as Michael Hutchings had predicted, with recruits committing as early as possible, to hold on to one of the few precious USC scholarships.

The 6-foot-5, 270 pound, tackle received offers from every Pac-12 school with the exception of Stanford, and chose USC over UCLA. This past weekend at The Opening, Falah received a heavy dose of Trojan Kool-Aid from top quarterback Max Browne, and his commitment now gives USC a total of nine commits who attended The Opening, and that number could swell to ten on Monday, when Jalen Ramsey announces his intentions.

For USC, the offensive line hasn’t been the priority this recruiting year until today, as Kiffin and company have made it clear that they’re targeting players at the skill positions, and recruiting for need. With just 15 scholarships and 18 allowed when you include early enrollees, the recruiting game chances, hence the quest for the nation’s top running back, two of the top running backs and three 4-star receivers.

With Falah and Rodgers aboard as commits, it will be interesting to see how Kiffin recruits going forward, as it’s clear that targets like Jalen Ramsey, Max Redfield, Eddie Vanderdoes and Tahaan Goodman are the focus, as opposed to the offensive line, which was recruited heavily(no pun intended) in the Class of 2012.

Either way, the Trojans’ offensive line got plenty better this evening, assuming Falah signs come February, and Kiffin now has options in terms of both redshirting and positional changes on the line, with guys like Zach Banner, Jordan Simmons, Max Tuerk, Khaliel Rodgers and Nico Falah in the mix in 2012 and 2013.