It’s been a rough few days in the recruiting world for the USC Trojans. We have covered all of it at LAFB, so I won’t belabor the point, but very quickly:
- 4-Star EDGE Hayden Lowe flips to Miami
- 3-Star CB Shamar Arnoux flips to Auburn
- 5-Star QB Julian Lewis predicted to flip to Colorado (visiting Georgia this weekend)
- 4-star OT Carde Smith predicted to flip to Colorado
Not exactly ideal with the early signing period rapidly approaching.
After it was announced that Arnoux was flipping, one current Trojan commit had a legendary response to the situation.
2026 4-star CB Brandon Lockhart had this to say on X.com:
“So what! Bye ✌️ Just one less guy in my way!!!”
USC Trojans Commit Brandon Lockhart With Legendary Response
The 6’1, 185-pound CB out of Loyola High School in Los Angeles has been committed to the Trojans since October.
He is the 5th-ranked CB in the entire 2026 class behind fellow California CBs RJ Sermons out of Rancho Cucamonga, and Davon Benjamin out of Oaks Christian. Lockhart is already committed and both Sermons and Benjamin are heavily favored to commit to SC (Oregon is the next favorite for both).
Not saying this will be the case, but this slew of de-commitments could end up being a small blessing for SC in that it forces them to really go all-in on recruiting California.
Also Read: USC Trojans 2026 Recruiting Class
Many of the recent flips have had NIL reasons, but almost all have kids who have chosen to end up staying closer to home.
Players like Brandon Lockhart are what you build a program around, and then never look back.
There are many flip candidates in the state of California that Lincoln Riley and his staff will heavily pursue over the next few weeks.