Rowe excited about latest offer

After picking up his first two offers on Signing Day, the recruitment of Long Beach Poly (Calif.) defensive end Kenny Rowe has been relatively quiet ever since. That changed last week when the talented pass rusher landed the offer he was waiting for.

Rowe, 6-3, 220 pounds landed offers from Mississippi and Oregon earlier this month and we thought he might be close to double digit offers by this time. It hasn't quite worked out that way and our thinking is a lot of schools may be leery of recruiting him feeling that once the hometown Trojans offer, that could be it.

That scenario will now be put to the test as Rowe got the news he was waiting for during practice last week.

"Coach Lara pulled me and Donovan (Warren) aside and told us to call Coach Carroll because he wanted to talk to us," Rowe said. "When I got on the phone, he offered me a scholarship and said he wanted both of us to be Trojans.

"I think he wanted us to commit but neither of us are ready to do that right now, I know I'm not. I want to take all my trips but USC is definitely my top choice right now and it's not even close. I was very excited to get that offer and I love everything about USC and their football program.

"It's still really early for me though and I have other schools on my list that I want to check out. My top five right now after USC would be Cal, Florida, Notre Dame and Oregon. I like UCLA too and I'm going to their Junior Day this weekend."

The last time we spoke with Rowe, his older brother Alfred, who just signed with USC, and his father both told us that the two players would likely go in a different direction in terms of picking a college. Although there definitely seems to be a bit of a family rivalry between the two, Rowe made it clear that his college choice will be made by him and him alone.

"I really don't care what Alfred says or thinks, I'm going to do what best for me," Rowe said. "He made his choice and I'm going to make mine and what he did will have no affect what so ever on my decision. If I chose USC, he'll just have to deal with it."

Rowe has already participated in the Army All-American combine and said he'll also be at the Nike camp at Stanford later on in May.

"I'm going to go to the Nike combine at East L.A. on March 11 too," Rowe said. "I'm trying to get faster and the combines are a great tool to let me know where I'm at and what I need to work on before the big Nike camp in May."