Why Jadon Perlotte Signed With Tennessee Volunteers Over USC Trojans: Recruiting Flip

The USC Trojans 2025 four-star linebacker commit, Jadon Perlotte, flipped his commitment and signed with the Tennessee Volunteers on Early National Signing Day. It's been a wild 24-hours for USC Trojans recruiting and coach Lincoln Riley.

Linebacker, Jadon Perlotte / @jadon_perlotte on Instagram

The USC Trojans lost their class of 2025 four-star linebacker, Jadon Perlotte. Perlotte committed to USC in July of 2024, but then flipped his commitment and signed with the Tennessee Volunteers on national signing day. 

Jadon Perlotte Flips from USC to Tennessee 

Linebacker, Jadon Perlotte / @jadon_perlotte on Instagram

Losing Jadon Perlotte at the last minute to Tennessee will be a tough pill for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans to swallow. Perlotte committed to USC over the summer and had visited USC multiple times in November. He was at the Trojans win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers and loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Prior to those visits, Perlotte had visited Tennessee for their win against Kentucky.

Perlotte had initially committed to the Georgia Bulldogs way back in December of 2022. He was projected to be a Bulldog until this year when USC and Tennessee started gaining more traction on the recruiting trail. 

“The coaches at Tennessee love me,” Perlotte told On3. “They has always shown a lot of love to me and my family...Tennessee is a school that has always made me feel wanted. The love from Tennessee is real. The coaches there were consistent and the atmosphere was always great. The culture stood out to me at Tennessee. It always felt like home and family.””

Perlotte ended up decommitting from Georgia and flipped to USC on July 30th in 2024. That commitment didn’t last long and he will now be taking his talents to Knoxville, Tennessee for the 2025 season. 

Highs And Lows: National Signing Day for USC

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley leaves the field after the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There were highs and lows from the USC Trojans on national singing day. 

The biggest highs were the signings of five-star defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart and five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet. Stewart was viewed as a toss up that could have wound up at USC, LSU, or Oregon, but he picked the Trojans. Longstreet recently flipped his commitment from Texas A&M to USC in November following fellow five-star quarterback Julian Lewis’s decommitment from USC.

Some of the lows were missing out on two four-star linebackers Jadon Perlotte and Madden Faraimo. In addition to losing Perlotte to Tennessee, the Trojans also missed out on linebacker Madden Faraimo, who signed with Notre Dame, 

USC currently has the No. 13 ranked class of 2025 recruiting class per 247sports. This is slight improvement from Lincoln Riley’s 2024 recruiting class, which ranked 20th.

Lincoln Riley has been under heat this season after the Trojans regressed their win total for the second straight year with him at the helm. Riley's record over the last two seasons is 14-11. Can this year's class help get the ball rolling back in the right direction?

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