On Monday, USC secured a commitment from a 4-star offensive lineman wanted by seemingly everyone in the country. Phoenix (Ariz.) Pinnacle lineman Elijah Paige is the fifth offensive lineman to join the Trojans’ class, and his size makes for an extremely intriguing prospect for USC to develop at tackle.

But his commitment was important to USC for more than just a few reasons. Among them: Paige is teammates with the No. 1 tight end in the 2023 class — a USC priority and a 5-star prospect. The 6-foot-6 Duce Robinson has been courted by USC coach Lincoln Riley and Co. for some time now, and he told 247Sports’ Trevor Booth recently that he and Paige had talked about the possibility of playing together.

USC is the predicted landing spot for Robinson, the 20th overall prospect in the class according to the industry-generated 247 Composite. 247Sports’ Blair Angulo and Greg Biggins have both logged Crystal Ball predictions for USC.

To that end, one comment Robinson made to Booth stands out as a pretty good sign.

“We’re going to try to go as much as possible,” Robinson told Booth. “If that’s one time or if that’s five times, however often we can make it down, we’ll be there.”

The 5-star tight end took an official visit to USC back in June. (He went more in-depth on that visit with Booth.) Landing his signature would set the 2023 class Riley has put together over the top.

USC already has 5-star pledges from quarterback Malachi Nelson and wideout Zachariah Branch. Sooner or later, wideout Makai Lemon will get that deserved fifth star. With Raleek Brown in tow from the 2022 class, Robinson would give the Trojans blue-chip/top-50 signees at each of the offensive skill positions and at quarterback within a year of Riley being hired.

Things are shaping up well. And if Robinson is able to get back to campus a few more times this season, the fact the Trojans are winning every week certainly won’t hurt their chances.