Major USC football recruiting target drops announcement date for college decision

Elite west coast Offensive Tackle recruiting target for USC football, Josh Conerly, has announced that he will be making his college decision on April 8th. Conerly is a five-star prospect and the No. 15 player in America (all recruiting rankings and ratings in article are as of 247Sports).

USC is in Conerly's top six, along with Michigan (the favorite according to 247Sports' crystal ball predictions), Washington, Miami, Oklahoma, and Oregon. He's the No. 2 OT prospect in the country for 2022. He has taken so long to make his announcement partly due to Michigan's Offensive Coordinator Josh Gattis darting to Miami.

There's been a lot of turbulence within the Michigan coaching staff this offseason, so Conerly has chosen to wait this out. USC at times has been seen as the favorite for Conerly, and certainly has picked up more ground in this race than they began with.

Josh Conerly is a huge fan of new USC Football Head Coach Lincoln Riley.

Now that USC has hired Lincoln Riley, don't count this program out when it comes to the recruitment of Josh Conerly:

Here's what Conerly said about his in-home visit with Riley and USC Offensive Coordinator Josh Henson:

"It was pretty good, just finally getting to meet Coach Riley in person, especially knowing him for like two, three years now. So it was great to [meet] him, great guy. And it was great meeting Coach Henson as well. They're both great dudes -- they're going to do great things for that offense"

- Josh Conerly, Rainier Beach HS (Seattle)

The No. 1 2022 recruit in Washington, it would be massive if SC could get a commitment from one of the very few elite O-Line recruits on the west coast. They don't exist much these days, so it's extremely important for SC to establish that pipeline so they can get the few that do.

There hasn't been a ton of elite offensive line talent in high schools in general for many years, but in the past USC didn't have any competition. Once an Offensive Line guy in Mario Cristobal got hired at Oregon, however, SC had some competition. Now that they don't have that competition any more, they need to get every last top-tier OL recruit on the coast. It all starts with Conerly, who could potentially start at right tackle in 2022 if he chooses to head to the Coli.