USC snags commitment from TE Lake McRee out of Texas

After resetting his recruitment following an injury-filled junior season, one of Texas’ top tight ends has found a new landing spot.

Austin (Texas) Lake Travis three-star tight end Lake McRee committed to USC on Friday. Auburn, LSU, Washington, Penn State and Purdue were also finalists for the one-time Texas verbal commitment.

McRee committed to the Longhorns last summer when former high school teammate Hudson Card was committed in the 2020 recruiting class. McRee, who missed all of the 2019 season due to a torn ACL that involved an extended rehabilitation process, backed off that pledge in February amid new interests from several other out-of-state schools, including the Trojans.

USC has been especially active in the Lone Star State in this 2021 recruiting cycle. McRee is the third Texan to join the Trojans’ class along with Rivals100 wide receiver Quaydarius Davis out of Dallas and Rivals250 running back Brandon Campbell out of Houston. McRee, from Austin, is the 15th addition to USC’s haul, but the first tight end. He’s the nation’s No. 25-ranked tight end and the No. 67 overall player in Texas.

Entering the day, the Trojans’ class ranked No. 4 nationally in the Rivals team rankings.

On rehabbing his knee: "I've been working out really hard in the weight room and trying to get back to where I was and proceed further. I get fully cleared in three weeks from now, but with what's going on with no football practices or summer workouts, I've been running routes and catching balls at 100-percent, lifting weights and I'm almost cleared, but I'll be fully cleared in three weeks."

On reopening his recruitment this spring: "Texas is a great school and I'm a huge fan of it, and it's a good football program, but I didn't feel like it was the best fit for me. My family and I thought I'd be utilized better at other programs. I told that to Texas and they respected my decision. Once I reopened my recruitment, it ramped up. I was being strongly recruited and getting new offers and coaches contacting me. It was a crazy thing to go through but I was blessed to be in that position."

On USC: "I feel like all the coaches took time out of their days to make me feel less like a kid being recruited. They made me feel more than that. They treated me like a player with Zoom calls showing how I'd fit in the offense and how the offense is run. They believed in me and asked me about my knee and strongly believed I'd come back better than I was before, and that was something that stuck out to me. USC was one of the schools I was fortunate enough to go visit last summer for camp, so I had already seen it and I have family out there."

On last summer's visit: "That visit was huge. To commit somewhere without ever having visited is hard to do. You're gonna spend four years of your life there, so having the chance to visit, I was fortunate to do that. I was there for a camp. They hadn't offered me, but I camped and then they pulled the trigger. We went down to take pictures in uniforms and got a private tour with my family. It was nice. The hospitality was great how they individually took me around campus and showed off the facilities. It felt like home."

On USC's success recruiting Texas: "They just make it feel like it's a home away from home. You're gonna be treated the same way your high school coaches treat you now. It's not gonna feel like you're across the country when you're not home. You'll feel as comfortable there as you would at home and we're gonna have a lot of success out there with all those (Texas) guys."

McRee missed the 2019 football season due to a torn ACL, a serious knee injury that involved a very extended rehab process to the tight end back to full health entering this offseason.

The 6-foot-5, 217-pounder did not suit up for Lake Travis High last fall. In his last active season, McRee recorded 17 receptions for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns. He averaged 45.7 yards per game in a short six-game sample size, but was an obvious candidate for a breakout junior campaign after piecing together a strong spring and camp resume last offseason before suffering the knee injury.

McRee is a well-rounded athlete that also plays basketball and competes in track and field. He possesses a 4.59-second shuttle time with a 28.4-inch vertical. He's an athletic tight end prospect that flashed in instances as a pass-catcher, a blocker and a versatile H-back that can be used as an added lead blocker or pass-catcher in multiple formations.

USC has a pair of talented quarterbacks in its 2021 class in Miller Moss and Jake Garcia, and McRee will offer both signal-callers a dynamic pass-catcher that makes a ton of players in the flats and the middle of the field. He's got great hands and is a reliable safety valve in the passing game. His size presents quarterbacks with a massive go-to target that's capable of picking up big chunk yardage after the catch. He's got deceptive agility tot make defenders miss and move the sticks.

McRee split snaps as an in-light tight end, an H-back, out wide as a receiver or as a flexed out tight end in the slot. His combination of size and athleticism makes up creating unique mismatches in the passing game. He runs the field very well and has an impressive catch radius. He's capable of wrangling in difficult grabs and can make bring in receptions away from his body. He has a verified 5.0-second 40 time, but seemingly plays a bit faster than that. He does his best work in the red-zone and is a plus-option to hit in the short and intermediate parts of the field.

Lastly, McRee is an excellent, willing blocker and was continuing to develop in that area as last fall approached. He flashes enormous upside in this department with timely crack-blocks and the ability to clear paths and make blocks in space. McRee will help USC restore the running attack it's accustomed to and as McRee adds more strength in the weight program, he'll continue to improve as a blocker.