My thoughts on the case of the two RB’s left for USC

Saturday afternoon, I logged a prediction for USC to land a commitment from the nation’s No. 1 running back, Taylor Tatum.

WeAreSC’s Scott Schrader put in a prediction for Tatum to USC just four days ago. With this information, it is easy to determine we feel USC is the leader for Tatum.

There are some other things to be looked at here with this recruitment as well as one other that could potentially affect it. That would be the recruitment of Decatur (Tex.) four-star Nathaniel Palmer. That is because I also have a prediction in for USC to land his commitment, a prediction I put in last month.

Tatum’s recruitment

There have just a handful of schools in play over the past few months being USC, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Georgia. It became clear USC was a real threat and after his official visit, a feeling grew the Trojans might have done enough to land him. But he did still have some official visits to Oklahoma and Michigan on the schedule in June.

Michigan seems to be fading away though as they are trending to land their second running back commit of the cycle. It is highly unlikely Tatum will be willing to join a three running back class, so taking in their second at the position would almost certainly kill their chances with him. Georgia has not been heavily in the running but have been mentioned. They hold two running back commitments, so they are not a competitor. This leaves Oklahoma, who he will visit next weekend. What is interesting is that this will be only Tatum’s second visit ever to Oklahoma and his first since September 2022.

I am unsure whether the Sooners can do enough to break USC’s strong relationship with him. Especially given Tatum’s vocal support of Lincoln Riley and his offense compared to an Oklahoma offense that does not necessarily have an identity under Brent Venables yet.

All this together leads me to believe USC is the favorite, hence the prediction.

Palmer’s Recruitment

Nathaniel Palmer has long been a fan of USC, Kiel McDonald, and Lincoln Riley. They have seemingly been the leaders for a couple of months now.

I was comfortable with logging a prediction for him to USC after getting the feeling a commitment could come soon after his official visit to USC, which is scheduled for June 16. And he is taking that visit.

The situation at hand

So, with both Palmer and Tatum seeming to trend to USC, what happens?

Well, I don’t see Palmer committing before his visit, but I do see a possibility (simply a possibility, not saying it’s happening) that Tatum commits before Palmer has the chance.

That would mean though that Tatum commits before visiting Oklahoma or Michigan. As of now, those visits remain scheduled and I have not heard anything that leaves me to believe they will changed in any way. At least not yet.

The drama will come if Tatum does not commit before Palmer’s visit and Palmer does get the chance to commit before Tatum. The term “first come first serve” has been thrown around and that might be the best way to describe the situation right now.

If Palmer commits first, Oklahoma would likely be the favorite for Palmer.

If Tatum commits first, it is likely Palmer looks elsewhere because he too is is unlikely to want to join a three back class.

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