When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
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THE STORYLINE
Jake Garcia had been committed to USC since September 2019 but backed off his pledge in recent days.
Originally from California but playing his senior year in Georgia, Garcia said he agreed with the USC coaches that two quarterbacks would be fine in the class. It looked like it would be him and four-star Miller Moss from Mission Hills (Calif.) Alemany.
But then the Trojans started showing significant interest in Jaxson Dart, who has had a phenomenal senior season at Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon. While Garcia said he’s not afraid of competing, three quarterbacks in one recruiting class could be seen as excessive.
So here’s the situation: Garcia has backed off his pledge with Miami looking like a frontrunner. Moss remains happily committed. And Dart has not committed with USC, UCLA, Arizona State and others in the running.
If Dart decides to go elsewhere, Garcia’s de-commitment could really hurt USC’s quarterback prospects in 2021. If Dart picks the Trojans during the early signing period, Garcia’s departure might not hurt as dearly.
LOCAL REACTION
“Certainly, Jake Garcia is a very talented, high-upside prospect that any college program would want to have in its recruiting class. That said, this is not a total surprise as USC has aggressively pursued another QB in this 2021 class, four-star Jaxson Dart, despite already having Garcia and fellow four-star Miller Moss committed.
"So at some point there was going to be another domino to tumble — it just happened maybe a little sooner than expected, as Dart is not a done deal yet to USC. He continues to weigh the Trojans and Arizona State as his top options.
"So if USC doesn’t land Dart, Garcia’s departure will sting greatly. If the Trojans get Dart, I think they’ll be content that they hit the mark on their QB needs this class and the sting factor won’t be much.
"Again, that’s not a commentary on Garcia’s ability or upside — both are significant. It’s merely an acknowledgement that USC can’t have it all, and if they were going to prioritize Dart then they were going to likely lose Garcia at one point of another.” – Ryan Young, TrojanSports.com
Sting Factor: 7
NATIONAL REACTION
“With Moss in the class, this is still a big loss because they just don’t have numbers at quarterback at USC. Garcia is the more talented of the QBs in my opinion so I’m giving this a high score despite a four-star QB left in the class.” – Mike Farrell, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director
Sting factor: 9
