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After making an early commitment to Texas back in April, four-star Tustin (Calif.) EDGE Taven Epps has backed off that pledge and reopened his recruitment, he tells Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett. The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder was the lone commitment for the Longhorns in the junior class. But after a flurry of visits and new offers this summer and fall, he wants to fully explore other options. Georgia, USC, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Alabama are among the schools that have been in contact with Epps in recent months, with the Trojans and Bulldogs hosting him in September. Last month, he made stops with the Sooners and Fighting Irish, too. Epps is a Texas native, but moved to California for a chance at more recruiting exposure. The in-state Trojans are hoping to keep him there. “It was a cool environment, just everybody telling me how USC is and how I should go there,” Epps told Rivals’ Adam Gorney after his visit this fall. “I have a friend who went there from my high school and he said, ‘Hey man, SC is the place.’ The coaches were cool. They were telling me I would be used like No. 18. They said that’s what we want you to be like. The environment was cool, the coaches were cool, everybody was being cool. … They’re trying to flip me pretty hard. But every school is trying to flip me pretty hard.” They’ll have plenty of competition over the next 13 months though, as Epps is one of the premier defenders in the 2027 class. This fall as a junior, he totaled 60 tackles, 10 TFLs and three sacks for Tustin.
