Maloata plans to stick with pledge
Austin Maloata was spotted wearing UCLA gloves on Saturday night in Corona (Calif.) Centennial's game against Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco but the USC commit said there is no message to it.
"The gloves are just gloves," Maloata said. "I didn't have any gloves tonight and Viane (Talamaivao) didn't have gloves to lend to me so these are the only gloves I had to wear tonight."
Advertisement
There has been some chatter that the new USC coaching staff has not talked much with Maloata yet but the three-star defensive lineman said his commitment is still firm despite taking recent official visits to UCLA and Washington State.
At this point, Maloata said, he plans to play for the Trojans next season.
"It's still strong," Maloata said.
"I talked to coach Johnny Nansen and we have a good friendship. Everything is going well as of now. I'm still talking to them. Right now I'm just focused on my grades and passing my tests and hopefully going in next summer."
The three-star took a trip to UCLA a couple weekends ago but he said a flip to the Bruins is not in the cards right now.
In late November, Maloata took a trip to Washington State and there were rumors he was going to commit to the Cougars but he said both of those Pac-12 programs are back-up options at best.
"(UCLA) will always be my second option but right now I'm strong with USC no matter what," Maloata said.
"I don't know about (Washington State). We'll see at signing day but right now it's still Fight On with SC."