Micah Banuelos unveils perfect reason for why he spurned Oregon for USC football

USC football picking up four-star IOL recruit Micah Banuelos over Oregon was a huge get for the program. USC had lost out on another blue-chipper to Oregon earlier this offseason in Josh Conerly Jr., and had missed on some big O-Line recruits in the last few years to the Ducks.

Plucking Banuelos off of the recruiting trail does not only of course improve what the 2023 roster will be, but also establishes momentum on the recruiting trail. Banuelos was expected to go to his childhood team in Oregon, but revealed why he made the better decision after he committed:

"It was hard because growing up I was always an Oregon fan, and just to think of the bigger picture of 'SC going to the Big Ten and, shoot...The Big Ten was just like a cherry on top," said Banuelos.

One of the biggest reasons Micah Banuelos committed to USC football was due to the Big Ten move.

Micah Banuelos knew that if he committed to USC football, he'd be able to play in the Big Ten as soon as 2024, when USC makes the move.

The Big Ten chose not to add Oregon, and just add USC and UCLA. Oregon doesn't even know what's going to come of their conference situation moving forward. Banuelos, however, continued to rave about USC's switch to the Big Ten.

"It's just going to be a lot more competition, more people watching, more exposure," said Banuelos. "And just to experience it how 'SC is going to expand in the next couple of years because of this Big Ten deal is going to be real big."

While Banuelos also cited other factors to his decision--such as Josh Henson always recruiting him hard, even when he left his job at Texas A&M to come to USC--the Big Ten clearly mattered quite a bit to him. To pick USC over his favorite squad growing up must not have been the easiest, but it was the right move in the end.

When SC moved to the new conference, many expected recruiting to potentially improve for the Trojans. Some, however, were skeptical of that and wondered if that was just wishful thinking.

So far, it has clearly chipped in on the recruiting trail, and is something this coaching staff should be hitting HARD while so many other teams have uncertainties surrounding their futures in conferences.