Latest from Shahn Alston highlights USC recruiting approach in today's college football

It is uncommon in college football from both athletes and schools alike, but it was nice to see the social media activity from future USC Trojans. A lot of what programs face goes beyond the regular recruiting efforts that CFB staffs have sought to build their programs with in years past.

With an unofficial year-round transfer window and schools jockeying for players who have already announced their commitments, coaches are consistently forced to make efforts and expend energy on players who are receiving heavy interest from other programs.

Playing devil's advocate, maybe that should be how it is with a free market approach, and coaches are also seemingly one foot in and halfway out the door during their stays at certain colleges. That debate, however, can be had another day.

As things are now, players are allowed to openly entertain offers and intrigue from outside interests within the NCAA rules. It is fairly common, for example, for high schoolers to continue taking official visits to other campuses and have them scheduled, even after committing to a program.

For Shahn Alston, while it would be allowed, that is not something that he too appears to be interested in entertaining. As a response to Zooloo_Trojan on X, the running back commit made his official status clear.

While quote sharing the original post, Alston made his current stance clear; he stated, " Recruitment been shut down since commitment."

For a lot of athletes, they will first announce their commitment and then eventually get to campus while the fan base holds its breath waiting for a flip, or there is an ensuing announcement letting everyone know that the player's recruitment is being shut down.

The social media post by Alston was in response to Zooloo_Trojan asking for the current USC commits to shut down their recruitment.

What makes Alston's response to this ask so intriguing is how he, along with a number of those currently pledged to the Trojans, has come to approach their place as future members of USC. Coach Lincoln Riley has made it clear that he is looking to invest in players who want to be Trojans.

Right approach by USC will continue to pay off

Fans recently experienced the decommitment of Xavier Griffin, and the current no-visit policy came under some discussion. The latest from Alston and consistent messaging from coach Riley and GM Chad Bowden, however, should show why the current approach is largely working.

There will not be any program in the nation that achieves at or near a 100% success rate. How USC goes about recruiting and building trust among those they offer and spend time with will ultimately yield more positive results than not.

For Alston to not only reaffirm his commitment but then seemingly say that a formal 'shutting down' announcement was not needed from his perspective shows why USC is continuing to make the right moves on the recruiting trail and is attracting the right people to once again elevate the Trojans to where they should be in college football.