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USC Football: Trojans Miss Out On Top 2024 Junior College Recruit

This is a big miss for a struggling USC defense.

Matt Solorio

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It's the Ducks.

The best player in junior college, College of San Mateo (San Mateo, CA.) cornerback Sione Laulea announced late last night that he intends to continue his college career at the University of Oregon. The 6'4" Laulea could have more or less gone anywhere in the country, but he selected the Ducks after whittling his recruitment to a top three that also included USC and Miami. 

When you talk about plug-and-play, Laulea embodies it. Not only does he move with fantastic agility, but his length and physicality are already at the Division 1 level. He plays in perhaps the toughest league that junior college has to offer - and he dominates. 

The polished cornerback announced his decision live on the 247 Sports YouTube channel. 247 has Oregon's class ranked 13th nationally in terms of talent committed in their 2024 class. Laulea is the fourth defensive back to commit to Oregon's 2024 class. He would've been the Trojan's fifth defensive back, had he committed to USC. 247 Sports has USC's 2024 class ranking 18th, nationally. 

When 247 Sports' National Recruiting Editor Brandon Huffman asked why he chose Oregon, Laulea said "It was all three coaches at Oregon that recruited me," said Laulea. "Coach (Tosh) Lupoi, the defensive coordinator, coach Meat (Demetrice Martin, the Oregon cornerbacks coach) and coach (Dan) Lanning."

Laulea also expects to get thrown into the rotation immediately upon enrolling. 

USC will now likely focus their attention on fellow class of 2024 cornerbacks Kobe Black of Connally High School (Waco, TX), Dakoda Fields of Junipero Serra High School (Gardena, CA), and Isaiah Rubin of Los Alamitos High School (Los Alamitos, CA)

Lincoln Riley is one of the best recruiters in the country, so while Sione Laulea was a big miss, your Trojans are still in a solid place to finish of the 2024 cycle with momentum. Riley was, after all, brought in to put some fire on USC recruiting. He was known for pulling California kids into Oklahoma during his time in Norman. Only four of the 15 total commits in the class of 2024 are from California. 

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Matt Solorio
MATT SOLORIO

Matt Solorio is a USC Trojans On SI reporter/analyst covering football recruiting, NIL, and other topics. He is also a Recruiting Analyst for Sports Illustrated All-American and an editor at SugarAndSports.com. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he brings a technical approach to his coverage of football recruits. He played defensive end at City College of San Francisco, coached at Archbishop Riordan HS (San Francisco, Calif) is committed to providing USC fans with interesting, informative, and engaging content. 

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