Michael Hutchings to USC: How Does He Fit in the Trojans' Defense?

For the past several weeks, Michael Hutchings' recruitment was a true race between Washington and USC.

Sure, people had been mentioning Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, Miami and several other schools, yet this was really a Trojans vs. Huskies battle.

Yesterday, Hutchings announced that he had actually made up his mind two weeks ago and committed to USC.

The Trojans had been considered the favorite for quite some time, but when Hutchings elected to take a visit to Montlake a few weeks ago, speculation on the Dawgs heated up. 

However, before he made his announcement, Hutchings headed down to Los Angeles to workout for the USC coaching staff at their Rising Stars Camp. This is where Hutch' confirmed his feelings and made it official by becoming USC's 11th commitment for their 2013 class.

With his commitment sewn up, now begs the question of where will the 6'1", 210-pound defender play? Right now, Hutchings is listed as an OLB, where he will become a three year starter at national high school powerhouse, Concord De La Salle, this fall.

Hutchings has great athleticism, range, instincts, pursuit ability and ball vision. He has deceptive length in his arms to stay clean from blockers and can escape offensive linemen attacking him with quickness and by eating them to spots.

He has the quickness, hips and speed to be solid vs. the pass, as his athleticism allows him to latch on to RB's out of the backfield and TE's releasing off the line.

With all that working for him, there is talk that Hutchings could play strong safety. His skill set will fit well there for the Trojans, albeit he'd have some adjustments to make, especially in coverage and route recognition.

Yesterday, Hutchings told Scout.com that he's cool wherever USC wants him to play, but that he's been informed by the USC coaching staff that he will play the Sam LB role when he arrives next fall.

If you want a classic example of the position that Hutchings will be playing, look no further than how Trojan defender Dion Bailey played this past season.

Bailey led the team in tackles and did a little bit of everything for the Trojans' defense. A converted safety, Bailey played on the flanks and pursued the run-away and head-on, dropped back in zone coverage to combat the pass, latched on to backs and TE's, and did some blitzing, too.

This role fits Hutchings best as it can take advantage of his skill set. In fact, Hutchings right now is basically a bigger high school version of Bailey.

Bailey is also a very, very heady and smart player, and I think learning from him will work wonders for Hutchings' game down the road.

Defensively, USC has nabbed themselves three future sure-fire stand outs in this class: DT Kenny Bigelow, Hutchings and safety Su'a Cravens. DE Kylie Fitts and CB Chris Hawkins are also solid prospects in their own right.

Hutchings could still a strong safety role, but fitting him in as Sam LB is probably best right now.

Edwin Weathersby has worked in scouting/player personnel departments for three professional football teams, including the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena League. He spent a year evaluating prep prospects & writing specific recruiting and scouting content articles for Student Sports Football (now ESPN Rise-HS). A syndicated scout and writer, he's also contributed to WeAreSC.com, GatorBait.net and Diamonds in the Rough Inc., a College Football and NFL Draft magazine.