USC Football scoops potentially underrated 2023 Edge from San Diego
By Evan Desai
USC Football just gained a commitment from three-star Edge prospect in the 2023 recruiting cycle, David Peevy. Peevy is a San Diego product, and currently plays high school ball at Lincoln. He also runs track, and it shows on the field. Peevy's primary recruiter was Trojan Outside Linebacker Coach Roy Manning.
While Peevy has just three stars attached to his name, according to the 247Sports Composite ratings, he was recently upgraded to four-star status in the 247Sports rating. What that means is that 247Sports, which is the most trusted recruiting evaluation service, has him as a four-star despite other voices having him rated lower and driving his 'Composite' rating down.
It goes to show that while many will just roll with that three-star rating, and consider him to be at that level of a prospect, it's true that he's trending up in terms of his status as a recruit.
Heck, USC's current best defensive player in Tuli Tuipulotu was a three-star according to the composite rating when he was coming out of high school, and a four-star according to 247Sports' standard rating system. Who's to say Peevy can't prove the composite rating wrong, just like Tuipulotu did?
David Peevy most certainly comes in at a position of need for USC Football.
David Peevy's commitment is USC Football's 20th commitment. That's a big step for the Trojans, as all 13 teams in the country who were ahead of them in the team recruiting rankings (all team recruiting ratings and rankings in article are as of 247Sports) have 20 or more commits except for Miami.
It's also a big deal because SC only had one Edge committed for 2023 before Peevy. That's of course Braylan Shelby, who's a great one, but the Trojans still needed more depth of course. Out of their 19 commits, they only had five front seven guys for 2023, and seven defensive players in general. Only two of them were in four-star territory or higher.
That means that they at least need depth, and they got some with Peevy. And again, Peevy very well could be a four-star level talent just stuck with a three-star composite rating due to lesser recruiting services being lower on him than 247Sports. One of the best parts of this commitment, too, is that Peevy trolled Oregon in the announcement video:
Oregon was in his top three that he was choosing from, along with Washington and of course USC. Utah also offered him, but it obviously seems like he wanted nothing to do with them. It remains to be seen if USC jumps anyone in the recruiting rankings after this pickup, but Peevy is absolutely a solid foundational piece to have with just about a month and a half left until early signing day.
Lincoln Riley has made it clear that he does not want to rely on the transfer portal for roster building this offseason. He'll want to step up and into the top 10 of the country in recruiting come December, and it all starts now as he can use the strong season he's having as a major recruiting tool.