USC Football: How Soon Will USC's Recent Washington Recruiting Flip Make An Impact?

With signing day quickly approaching, USC picks up a talented small-school defensive lineman

National Signing Day is tomorrow, meaning tomorrow will be the last day for 2024 football recruits to choose their future home. USC is closing the 2024 recruiting cycle on a high note with the commitment of Army and Navy Academy (Carlsbad, CA) defensive lineman Ratumana Bulabalavu. Bulabalavu was previously committed to Washington, but that was under the Kalen DeBoer regime. 

With DoBoer now at Alabama, Washington has seen a handful of commits putting their name back on the market, one to the benefit of new Trojan defensive line coach Eric Henderson. 247Sports considers Bulabalavu a four-star prospect, and he's the second four-star defensive lineman to commit to USC's 2024 recruiting class in the past couple of months after Bay City (Cay City, TX) defensive lineman Carlon Jones committed to USC back in December. Fellow defensive lineman Jide Abasirihad out of Prior Lake (Prior Lake, MN) rounds out the three defensive line commits bringing USC's 2024 recruiting class up to a total of 21. 

Bulabalavu was on campus at USC this past weekend, despite not having an official offer extended to him from USC. He has since received that offer and took to Twitter to announce his flip from Washington to USC. 

BREAKING: Carlsbad (Calif.) Army and Navy Academy DL Ratumana Bulabalavu, a former #Washington signee, has committed to #USC and went in-depth on why he chose the #Trojans https://t.co/nkMsmRvafd pic.twitter.com/QBSGIoi7Ov

— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) February 6, 2024

So, how soon might Bulabalavu see the field at USC? USC has at least two impact players along the defensive line returning in 2024 in the form of Jamil Muhammad (six-and-a-half sacks in 2023) and Bear Alexander (47 total tackles in 2023). Typically USC will have two defensive tackles on all their packages minus 3rd-and-long sub packages. 

They also employ a defensive end typically with his hand in the dirt on base packages who's responsibility revolves around setting the edge on run plays and pressing the pocket on pass plays. This third defensive end-tackle hybrid is likely the most suitable spot for Bulabalavu, but given the level of competition Bulabalavu faced in high school, the leap for him might be larger than that of his 2024 counterpart Carlon Jones. 

My money is on Bulabalavu taking a redshirt year in 2024 and then stepping into the fray in 2025 ready to compete for a role along the defensive line. He's got all the physical tools but might need a year or two of college practice before he's able to handle those Big-10 double-team blocks.