Some USC football fans are old enough to remember the summer of 2025, in which the media at large attempted to convince people that California recruits simply aren't all that. The insistence was that the in-state talent was simply no match for the superior and more dynamic athletes in other parts of the country, particularly in SEC territory.
While a lot of attention was on Week 0 of college football, many Trojan fans tuned in to their local high school programs. In what is something of a good apples-to-apples litmus test, St. John Bosco took on Manatee in Bradenton, and Mater Dei faced St.