USC Football with a big swing and a miss on Matayo Uiagalelei

USC Football has officially lost out on the Matayo Uiagalelei sweepstakes, as the five-star Edge has committed to Oregon. Uiagalelei is the No. 5 Edge in the country (all recruiting rankings and ratings in article are as of 247Sports). He is the No. 4 player in California, and the No. 31 player in the entire country.

It is perplexing as to why he would want to play for a lackluster program that has never won a national championship, has only won 13 conference championships ever (49th all-time), and is currently not relevant.

Especially when SC is not only historically one of the top two college football programs of all time (tied for second with 11 National Championships, No. 1 all-time in Heisman Trophies, No. 1 in Pro Football Hall of Famers, etc.), and is currently one of the 10 best teams in college football. That being said, everyone makes mistakes.

The good thing for USC, however, is that this isn't a mistake on Uiagalelei's part that will cost USC big. As the headline of this article suggests, it's a "big swing and a miss" on USC's part, but that's just because he was an elite five-star recruit and he was expected to sign with SC. It's not, however, a big deal when looking at how SC and Oregon's classes are shaking up.

Even without Matayo Uiagalelei, USC Football still has the highest overall recruiting class in the Pac-12, with the No. 10 class in the conference.

That means that even with the loss of Matayo Uiagalelei, USC Football is still three spots ahead of the Oregon Ducks in the overall recruiting rankings. USC still has just as many five-star recruits as the Ducks, and have an elite Edge recruit coming in with Braylan Shelby (four stars) anyway.

It's also worth remembering that SC still has the No. 2 recruit in the country from the 2021 class (and No. 12 recruit in 247Sports history) as Rush End in Korey Foreman. They could use the depth with Uiagalelei, but they certainly have a five-star talent to take that starting Rush End spot for next year anyway.

Foreman is already responsible for one of the greatest plays in the USC-UCLA rivalry's history, where he intercepted Dorian Thompson-Robinson to win the game 48-45 this season. SC still is bringing in a better class than Oregon (as of this moment at least), and is returning a better overall 11-win team for next year. Not reeling in Uiagalelei is realistically not a significant cause for concern.