Brandon Huffman, 247Sports
Duce Robinson, a 5-star class of 2023 tight end out of Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, has committed to play college football at USC, per The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.
The 247Sports composite list has the 6’6″, 225-pound Robinson as the best tight end prospect in his class and 17th overall prospect in the United States. He had 28 offers, including ones from Georgia, Clemson, Michigan and Notre Dame. He made visits to Georgia, Alabama and Texas.
The two-sport star also has a litany of baseball scholarship offers.
Chris Singletary of 247Sports wrote a glowing scouting report of Robinson in Oct. 2021 and compared him to the Las Vegas Raiders’ Darren Waller, writing in part:
“Robinson has unlimited potential with his skill set and physical abilities to be an all conference performer for multiple years,” Singletary wrote. “I see him as a player that has NFL ability and should be an early round pick in his future.”
USC is certainly happy to have the top class of 2023 tight end aboard before he looks toward a potentially bright NFL future.
The Trojans didn’t utilize the tight end position much in the passing game in 2022 under new head coach Lincoln Riley. Lake McRee was the team’s leading receiving tight end with just 10 catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
That figures to change now with Robinson aboard, as his talents are too great to underutilize. The Trojans do return a host of pass-catching talent even despite losing No. 1 wideout Jordan Addison to the NFL draft. Of note, we’ll see Tahj Washington, Brendan Rice and Mario Williams back in the mix.
But Robinson could carve out his own niche in Los Angeles as the Trojans look to make the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history.
