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Entrenched in the middle of Fall Camp, The Trojans have picked up commitment No. 15 from three-star wideout Tristan Payton out of Florida. Payton was visiting campus for an unofficial visit on Thursday and got the chance to watch Fall Camp practice at the Coliseum before finalizing his verbal commitment.
The Jacksonville native impressed the coaching staff during the annual Rising Stars camp back in June. After decommitting from Florida last month, Payton was seen with USC swag on his twitter bio as recently as last week and current wideout (and Florida native) Nelson Agholor dished out great respect for the then-uncommitted wideout.
I'm blessed to say that I am committed to the university of Southern California ☀️✈️✌️ #FightOn pic.twitter.com/rOvNdX6AnT
— Tristan Payton (@tristanpayton6) August 8, 2014
Tristan Payton, the No. 47 ranked player in the state of Florida and the No. 41 wide receiver across the entire 2015 recruiting class, plays the game with technically sound route running. Standing just six-feet tall, 180 pounds in stature, Payton projects to play slot receiver in USC's offense that also welcomes five-star quarterback Ricky Town.
Payton joins Desean Holmes and De'Quan Hampton, rated the top wideout in the state of California, as versatile pass-catching options for the 2015 group. The Trojans' 15-player recruiting class now ranks 9th overall according to 247sports.com and 10th overall according to Rivals.com with nine more commitments left on the table.
What USC does have going in its favor is that the average rank of their individual recruits (3.69) surpasses many of the teams above them that have landed more commitments.
Quality over quantity as they say and to be honest, things will only get better without those sanctions. More importantly however, the Trojans are still looking for players that have the tools to be effective in this system, not just recruiting for stars.
@356BADMAN @CChroniclesSBN Sark, at Pac-12 media day: "We're not chasing stars. We're chasing guys that fit what we're trying to do."
— Blair Angulo (@bangulo) August 9, 2014