Lincoln Riley just couldn’t help it. Even though he’s left the Big 12, he had to beat Texas one more time..

Braylan Shelby, a blue-chip edge rusher from Friendswood (Texas), announced his commitment to the Trojans via social media. He picked Riley and USC in a head-to-head battle with the Texas Longhorns.

The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Shelby rates as a 4-star in the industry-generated 247 Composite. He’s the 15th-ranked edge rusher in the class of 2023 and the 23rd-ranked prospect from the state of Texas. Overall, a Composite score of 0.9412 puts him at 133rd overall in the class.

Shelby took an official visit to USC back in mid-June. He was in Austin, Texas, a week later. Shelby told 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong that hearing from former USC greats about how much playing and living in Los Angeles helped their career sold him on USC.  “The places they’ve gone and things they got to do just because they played in LA,” he said. “They were talking about the benefits and what the education from SC has done. How SC overall is a great fit for anybody.”

A highly-productive defender, Shelby earned a unanimous Texas District 9-5A D-I First Team selection at outside linebacker as a junior last fall. During the 2020 season, he was a second-team selection. During that span, he recorded 131 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, eight forced fumbles, and an interception.

His verbal pledge gives the Trojans their 15th known commitment for the 2023 cycle and boosts the class up to 12th nationally in the 247Sports team rankings.

You can view his highlight tape below, via Hudl: