USC football steals fourth four-star Texas recruit after blue chip lineman commits

USC football has been able to recruit Texas very well, and while this cycle had so far been no exception, they just doubled down on it with Braylan Shelby's commitment. Shelby is the fourth commit out of the state of Texas to commit to USC (all four being four-stars), and the second on defense (Safety Braxton Myers).

He's the first Texas lineman they've been able to find in this class, as the Edge is also the first four-star defensive lineman they've picked up. That's why this commitment was so huge. They needed to prove they could recruit the D-line at a high level, and they just proved that they could.

USC now has 15 total commits in this class. To already have a blue chip d-lineman from another recruiting hot bed shows that this has the backbone of a very strong class. It's now the 12th-best class in the country, and of course remains the best in the Pac-12.

Braylan Shelby is the second four-star front seven player for the USC football program in this class.

Braylan Shelby and Tackett Curtis (Louisiana) now provide USC football with two major pieces on the front seven from the south.

To be able to recruit nationally is something SC will likely need to continue focusing on for their future front seven recruiting, so to have nailed down two giant front seven commitments from the south in recent weeks is huge. Shelby is the third D-Line commitment in the class this year, and the seventh solely defensive recruit for 2023.

Shelby is a swiss army knife, as he's described as all of a defensive lineman, an edge, and a hybrid linebacker. He can do it all, and is the fourth front seven recruit SC has for '23. He's the No. 23 overall player in the state of Texas (all recruiting rankings and ratings in article are as of 247Sports).

The No. 15 Edge in football, he's the No. 133 overall player nationally in this recruiting class. Of the 11 teams ahead of SC in the overall recruiting rankings, only six of them have higher average recruit ratings than them at this point.

It goes to show that while SC doesn't have the highest total commit number, the quality of recruits they're picking up is certainly there. The squad now has seven four-star recruits to go along with their two five-stars.

This was something USC certainly needed as fall camp started on Friday and the focus will be on preparing for the season. The next step will be to win during the season, and win often.

The No. 1 recruiting tool is always winning, which is why it's remarkable that the class looks good right now without Riley having coached a single game yet.