THE LATEST: Four-Star USC Edge Commit Isaiah Gibson (5/3)
On March 23 the USC staff hosted several of the top defensive linemen in the nation.
Five-Star Georgia commit Justus Terry, Five-Star Elijah Griffin from Savannah (GA), Four-Star Isaiah Gibson from Warner Robbins (GA), Dilan Battle, Corey Adams from New Orleans (LA), Austin (TX) DL Gus Cordova and Edge Justin Hill from Cincinnati (OH) all took March 23 USC unofficial visits.
It was the first visit for several of them, but all had June official visits set ahead of the March 23 unofficial visits. We figured if commitments came it would be after the officials, but USC got huge commitments from Terry, Cordova and Gibson on March 24. Four-Star Florida Safety Hylton Stubbs also announced his USC commitment that day.
First USC visit
Although it may have seemed as though quite a few March 23 visits were planned on the fly, Gibson told WeAreSC his USC visit was planned well ahead of March.
Eric Henderson rolled thru Warner Robins (GA) in January and basically set up visits with all the Georgia defensive linemen after January school visits. For those wondering where Henderson’s been this week, he’s back in Georgia and visited Gibson at Warner Robins on Wednesday.
“The USC visit was actually planned in January or February,” said Gibson. “It’s a place I wanted to get to. I’d never been to LA, but it was a good experience. I know my mom’s been to L.A. a lot, but I’d never been. She goes out there a few times every year.”
Coach Henny
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a coach make an immediate impact after being hired, to level Coach Henderson aka “Coach Henny” has. USC is currently in a position to potentially gain commitments from several more elite linemen.
Gibson shared his thoughts on Coach Henny.
“I like his coaching style and he’s from the south, he’s from New Orleans,” Gibson said. “He has the accent and everything. So, he’s a southern native. I feel like I personally want to be coached by a southern person.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s gonna be in the SEC, it’s just the fact that he’s coaching. I feel like the southern culture of football is way different than anywhere in the country. So I just feel like that’s just a good opportunity to go to USC for sure.”
Lincoln Riley
Despite being a defensive player and Lincoln Riley being known for coaching offense, he’s also a big draw to USC for Gibson.
“I just love Coach Riley’s coaching philosophy,” “I like the way he lets his players be as themselves. I just love that for sure. That’s the way I wanna be coached. You can see my coaches let me be myself and allow me to do more than I can.”
Role in D’Anton Lynn’s defense
When I first saw Gibson today at Warner Robins, my first thought was he could become an interior defensive linemen. And it turns out that’s how USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and Coach Henny envision Gibson’s role in their defense.
“Me and Justus (Terry) will play all four positions,” Gibson said.
USC official visit
At one point Gibson was scheduled to take his USC official visit in June, but he’s decided to take that visit and a few others during the season.
“As me personally, I love to keep relationships,” Gibson said. “I feel like relationships bring you a long way in life. I had my OV for Oklahoma locked in before I even came to USC. So, I just feel like having that already locked in, I just can’t change that because my relationship with Coach (Miguel) Chavis and the whole staff.”
How USC hangs on
Not many outside of the USC coaching staff believe Gibson will end up signing with the Trojans. Gibson said USC just needs to keep doing what they’re currently doing with recruiting him.
“They just need to keep being consistent,” Gibson said. “I feel like USC being consistent and USC being who they are, I feel like that would lead me a long way. I’ve kinda feel like Oklahoma had a good tradition while Coach Riley was there. So, he just brought it over to USC for sure.”
Potential X factor
Distance from home is always a topic when we’re talking about thousands of miles from home. Especially with guys from 100 miles south of Atlanta. Warner Robins has about 300k people living in the area, so it’s nothing like where Justus Terry is from in. Manchester. But Warner Robins still has a small town feel.
Gibson provided extremely interesting commentary after we asked what his mom thought of USC and his commitment to the Trojans.
“My mom, she loves LA.,” said Gibson. She’s in the army, so she’s out there a lot. Probably three to four times a year. So, she loves it there. After I leave for school, she’ll move out to the West Coast.
“She’s thinking about moving to San Diego. So it just she just loves the overall feel of L.A. for sure. She loves the beach and you can’t beat L.A. weather. It’s always good and nothing like Georgia.”
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