Many Reasons to Love OL Elijah Vaikona, Coach Anthony Rouzier Shares His

Prior to Tuesday July 2, USC had one 2025 offensive lineman committed, but Josh Henson and the Trojans are hoping to sign four to five linemen in this cycle. While USC need one more interior lineman, the Trojans needs to load up a bit at offensive tackle. 

Although USC is currently in a pretty solid spot with offensive tackles Aaron Dunn, Carde Smith and appeared to have a legit shot with Nick Brooks and Malachi Goodman after their official visits, Josh Henson and the Trojans best shot with gaining a commitment was with Santa Margarita (CA) offensive tackle Elijah Vaikona.

Vaikona announced his commitment to USC earlier this afternoon. The verbal pledge came about two weeks after he took his official visit and three weeks since earning his June USC camp offer. He earned nearly all of his scholarship offers after attending college camps last month.

Coach Rouzier’s Thoughts on Elijah Vaikona,

Santa Margarita Head Coach Anthony Rouzier is someone we’ve known for a few years now. One of the truly great people in the coaching profession. He’s got some big-time dudes at Santa Margarita and he believes the ceiling for Vaikona is really high.

“You’re looking at a kid who’s just a great kid first,” said Rouzier. “A kid who wanted to bet on himself and take the unconventional path to a Trinity League school like Santa Margarita. Since we got him, he’s just been such a great kid.

Significance of USC offer

The fact it was a fairly tough decision for the talented future 4th generation Trojan, was a testament to how solid his relationship was with Washington OL coach Brennan Carroll. Thew chances were low he wasn’t going to end up at USC, but Washington made it hard. Let’s give credit where it’;s due.

Now onto a few reasons why the USC offer was so significant.

“USC is the the first school that you learn about, especially as a Polynesian kid, because almost every great Poly has gone there,” Vaikona said. So, just having the USC offer really means a lot.

“My great grandfather played basketball at USC and then also went to dental school. So I’d be a fourth generation USC student. So it’s pretty special, because my mom says USC changed the trajectory of our family.

“Being able to play big time ball, but staying close to home is huge for me. 

“My family can come to the games. And wouldn’t be just staying in touch, I’d be able to see them. That would be huge, because my family really is everything to me. And then it’s L.A., so LA kinda has everything in one.”

Vaikona’s a Dawg

Imagine dealing with a bout of bronchitis and refusing to take time away from offseason workouts, including cardio drills.

“He had a pretty tough battle with bronchitis, and we’re pretty we’re pretty old school and do mat drills,” said Coach Rouzier. “The doc told him to sit out and he wouldn’t sit it out. He was grinding, pushing himself and wouldn’t tap. I had to be like, ‘Hey ma we don’t need you to keel over and die here. So let’s take a breather.’ But he really grinded and just watching him do that was great.”

Vaikona’s Development

As we’ve written several times already, Vaikona’s nowhere near where the ceiling’s gonna be. But when we talk about his ceiling, Coach Rouzier shared where we’ll likely see the most development
with Elijah.

“Like with every big guy, a big part of their development is just their ability to bend, flexibility stuff,” he said. “We’ve seen a bunch of improvement even since we got him with his mobility, and there’s still a lot to improve on. His mobility will help him with his foot speed.

“Part of his growth will really be getting to that right size where they want him. Then continue helping him learn the game and understand the game. I mean, he’s just so new to football at a high level, so there’s a ton of upside there. I’ve I’ve said this since the second we got him.

“He’ll be better his 3rd year of college against national level NFL talent than he will be for us in high school, just because he’s still so young.”

Former Players Aid in the Recruiting Effort

Part of the recruiting process involving USC included a few former Santa Margarita Eagles who are also Trojans. Guys Like Killian O’Connor and Brett Neilon shared their thoughts on offensive line coach Josh Henson. Former Sooner tight end Grant Calcaterra shared his thought on Lincoln Riley, who coached him at Oklahoma.

“For me, it’s really important to know how you treat everybody in your program,” Rouzier said. “Killian walked on to the program and I’ve asked Killian a number of times how his experiences have been at USC. He glows when talking about it…he loves it, man.

“He loves Josh and he loves coach Riley. I mean, he loves those dudes. Sometimes walk ons do it for a year and then fizzle out. But he wants more. Killian is an amazing guy in general and one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around. He was involved in this recruiting process for Elijah.”

Josh Henson

Josh Henson may have one of the most ideal personalities for being a coach. Never too up, never too down. He may not have signed a plethora of five-star linemen since he arrived at USC in late 2021, but he can umlaut and coach with the elites in the profession. This is not my opinion, this is the opinion of his peers.

“Josh has just been super welcoming, super cool,” said Coach Rouzier. “I’ve gone up to a handful of practices and he was welcoming. He took 45 minutes out of his day in the morning after a spring ball practice to watch tape with me and our line coach.

“Coach Riley, the same thing. It’s a really a true testament of character when you treat people right. At the end of the day, it really comes down to the people and it’s about the guys that are there. They’re gonna connect with these young men. And coach Henson is just phenomenal and he’s been great with me. He’s also a great coach.”

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