2025 5-star WR Jerome Myles ready to make impact ‘immediately’ for USC – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — Coaches would come to Draper, Utah, and whisper promises to Jerome Myles about the role he could play, about a starting spot in their receiver rooms once he got on campus, and the five-star 2025 kid took it all with a grain of salt.

Except when it came from USC’s Lincoln Riley.

“He shot it straight,” Myles, a top receiver recruited by top programs in the country, told the Southern California News Group. “And he was able to prove that I’m going to be able to start my freshman year. And that was definitely a big factor.”

And so, during a 247Sports livestream Wednesday morning from Utah’s Corner Canyon High School, Myles picked up a Utah cap before faking it and announcing his commitment to USC. It’s a massive addition, earning a verbal commitment from one of the nation’s top receivers, with Myles stepping in — with some variation in the assessment of 2026-turned-2025 QB Julian Lewis — as USC’s highest-rated recruit in the 2025 class.

Riley, Myles said, was the main coach who communicated with him during USC’s recruiting, a notable interest for a coach who is normally known for being more hands-on with quarterbacks. evidence Riley showed the ability to step in “immediately” and make an impact, and as Myles said, it was simple: USC won’t have many veteran receivers on its roster in 2025.

“I know,” Myles also said, “that he’ll always have a quarterback to get me the ball.”

Myles, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 215 pounds, missed playing time the past two seasons but rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns in two games with Corner Canyon before injuring his knee. His college-level blend of size and speed is enticing, as he ran the fastest 100-yard dash in Utah history in 10.36 seconds in the spring of 2024, and adds to a 2025 USC receiving class loaded with potential weapons from around the country: Texas’ Tanook Hines, Missouri’s Corey Simms and Baltimore’s Romero Ison.

USC’s rising class had looked thin this summer after five-star Georgia defensive backs Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson decommitted and the program missed out on several top targets. But since then, USC has added a smattering of commitments from the South, with four-stars in Georgia linebacker Jadon Perlotte, Georgia safety Kendarius Reddick and Florida linebacker Ty Jackson, not to mention 2026 No. 1-ranked Georgia linebacker Xavier Griffin.

“That perception, I think, is at an all-time high,” Griffin’s agent, Brandon Nabors, said of families’ views on USC’s recruiting in the South. “Because they really understand that by making the jump to the Big Ten, USC is not afraid to play against top-tier competition.”