When Kyle Murphy took his visit to USC on January 18th, the Trojans knew they had a lot of ground to make up. The massive offensive tackle recruit had visited Stanford at least four times during his last two seasons, and the Cardinal were thought to be an absolute lock.
Yahoo! West Coast recruiting analyst Adam Gorney believes that Murphy might not be all sewn up to Stanford:
From what I hear, #USC is definitely in contention for five-star OT Kyle Murphy. Not a #Stanford lock as some suspect.
Murphy told Greg Biggins that both schools have advantages. While not slighting USC's academics, he gave the nod to Stanford in the Classroom. Murphy believes USC has better tradition, and that both offer early playing time.
It's that expectation of early playing time, no matter how unrealistic, that has been important to Murphy throughout his recruitment. Whichever coach can downplay Murphy's need to get a lot bigger and stronger, perhaps via redshirt year, and present a compelling case for why Murphy is likely to play a lot as a freshman, is likely to gain his signature.
Murphy decides on National Signing Day (February 1).