College football’s recruiting circus reached peak absurdity when prominent analyst Josh Pate fired back at critics obsessing over USC’s recent decommitments. The respected voice behind “Late Kick with Josh Pate” delivered his trademark sarcasm to expose the glaring double standards plaguing recruiting coverage.
Despite losing several high-profile prospects, Lincoln Riley’s Trojans currently hold the nation’s top-ranked 2026 recruiting class with 27 commitments. Yet vocal skeptics continue predicting mass exodus while simultaneously dismissing every new commitment as meaningless, prompting Pate’s pointed intervention.
Pate’s Sarcastic Social Media Comeback Exposes Double Standards
Following USC’s major recruiting victory with five-star tight end Mark Bowman’s commitment, Josh Pate took to X on May 30, 2025, with a biting observation that perfectly captured the recruiting discourse’s inherent contradictions.
“Reminder: every USC commitment is irrelevant but every USC decommitment is 100% evidence of a fraudulent program” Pate posted, directly targeting the cyclical overreactions that define modern recruiting coverage. His timing was deliberate, coming just weeks after USC weathered decommitments from Georgia-based prospects.
Reminder: every USC commitment is irrelevant but every USC decommitment is 100% evidence of a fraudulent program
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) May 30, 2025
The Late Kick host’s sardonic tone reflected his frustration with media narratives that consistently moved goalposts for USC’s recruiting success. While other programs receive the benefit of the doubt for similar recruiting fluctuations, Riley’s Trojans face heightened scrutiny for every personnel move.
USC’s turbulent May saw three significant decommitments within days. Five-star edge rusher Isaiah Gibson departed May 13, followed by five-star defensive lineman Justus Terry on May 14, both Georgia natives. Five-star linebacker Xavier Griffin decommitted May 15 after clashing with USC’s official visit policies.
However, critics ignored the crucial context that Pate emphasized. USC’s 2026 class ranks No. 1 nationally with 27 commitments, featuring elite prospects like Bowman, offensive tackle Keenyi Pepe, and quarterback Jonas Williams, who flipped from Oregon.
Riley acknowledged recruiting volatility, stating “You’re going to see guys moving around and you’re seeing it for two reasons, some guys are changing their mind for whatever reason … That’s just the world that we’re in right now. Players have always changed their mind and changing it more in the last several years, they’re probably changing it more and more than ever before.”
National analysts noted improved structure under general manager Chad Bowden’s leadership, creating more sustainable operations than previous cycles. The current class represents Riley’s best tenure trajectory, both in quantity and quality metrics.
Pate’s confidence was so strong that he offered to pay out $1,000 for every USC commit who decommitted, but proposed that his doubters would owe him the same amount for those who remained at the school.
The changes in the broader college football landscape have made recruiting unpredictable for all programs. Pate’s satirical defense challenges judging programs by different standards based on preconceived biases rather than objective analysis of USC’s genuine progress.
