DL Mana Bulabalavu Commits to USC
Two days after his USC official visit and day before 2024 signing day No. 2, Northern California DL Mana Balubalavu announced his commitment to USC.
He is one of two prospects USC has a shot to sign this week to close out the 2024 recruiting class…for now. The Trojans could add more transfers between now and Fall Camp.
The USC official visit had a significant impact on Balubalavu.
New USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn shared his vision for the defense and Bulabalavu also got to spend time with Eric “Coach Henny” Henderson.
“The one message that was most clear is they want to go back to becoming an NFL factory,” Bulabalavu said. “The recent hires, the new DC, coach Henny at D-Line — the really big pitches between those two is in developing NFL players. They’ve been around NFL talent. They know what NFL players look like. They know what an NFL draft room looks like. That was a really big pitch they put forth and I see their plans coming to fruition on that.”
He said he sees Nua and Henderson working “50/50” on the defensive line together and Lynn’s ultimate goal up front is “for the defensive line to be pretty versatile with lots of athletic defensive linemen.”
But it was something outside of football that strongly resonated during the visit as well. Bulabalavu said he was able to meet and speak with a professor at the Marshall School of Business.
“Seeing the USC family,” Bulabalavu said of a lasting impression. “I was always told about it and seen it in graphics. But meeting the professor at Marshall, he talked about his experience. He knew the family was out there but hadn’t had his own experiences with the family. It would turn into something as simple as texting that he’s going to be in some country and he was hit up by multiple students and alumni that they were there, too…That experience with the USC family was something I never really talked about before and hadn’t heard about it from somebody who wasn’t in football.”
The Trojans are now waiting on LB Jadyn Walker’s announcement on Thursday. WeAreSC has submitted multiple USC predictions.
