USC Football: 4-star tackle E.J. Price commits to Trojans
Clay Helton’s first USC football recruiting class is coming together nicely after landing four-star offensive tackle E.J. Price on National Signing Day.
E.J. Price (Lawrenceville, GA. Archer) was believed to be heading to his in-state program to play for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs in the days leading up to National Signing Day. But a funny thing happened along the way as Price spurned the in-state program in favor of heading out west to play for the USC Trojans.
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The four-star offensive tackle is the nation’s No. 84 overall recruit, No. 8 offensive tackle and the No. 10 recruit in the Peach State, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Price joins Nathan Smith and Frank Martin II as fellow four-star offensive tackles in the Trojans 2016 class.
The 6-6, 311-pound Price took his last official visit to Athens on Jan. 29 which led to the belief he was going to pick Georgia after taking his trips to see the USC Trojans, LSU Tigers and Auburn Tigers earlier. He also had interest from Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines but decided playing in the Pac-12 for USC was in his best interest.
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USC has the nation’s No. 12 recruiting class and the No. 1 class in the Pac-12, according to the 247Sports Team Rankings entering National Signing Day.
The Trojans usually close as well as any other school this side of Alabama on National Signing Day but there was some hesitation this year. However, USC flipped Florida State commit Jamel Cook and four-star RB Vavae Malepeai from Oregon before getting the commitment from four-star Connor Murphy and Joshua Fatu before the big get in Price.