USC Football Recruiting 2012: 5-Star OT Zach Banner Latest to Join the Trojans

The majority of the top recruits will make their commitments tomorrow on national signing day, but there was one player who wanted to get his out of the way a day early.

His name is Zach Banner, and he became a USC Trojan.

One of this year's top offensive linemen had offers from nearly every school in the country and ended up picking USC over Oklahoma and the Washington Huskies.

Banner took official visits to schools such as Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Washington and USC. The Trojans were his last visit before a decision was made and it seemed to have a great impact on him.

“I thought about it being a perfect opportunity to go to a great school. There’s a lot of good things that you can say about all these schools,” Banner said. “This one just had the most opportunities.”

The 6'9", 295-pound monster from Lakewood, Wash. has the size already for the next level. He's extremely athletic and excellent in pass protection. He's likely to play basketball as well, but as a football player his upside is through the roof.

Banner will join an offensive line that needed depth, especially with top left tackle Matt Kalil entering this year's NFL draft. The Trojans have done a solid job in picking up offensive linemen in this year's class, with additions that include Jordan Simmons and Max Tuerk. USC also has a shot at landing top linemen like Andrus Peat and Kyle Murphy.

Lane Kiffin and company may not have many scholarship offers available, but they're doing the best they can with what they have. This is a huge pickup, as Banner has the potential to become one of the top offensive linemen in the country in a year or two.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].