With the Early Signing Period in the rear-view mirror,
Cyrus Moss is putting things on hold.
The four-star edge rusher from Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman was planning to sign Friday before revealing his choice publicly at the All-American Bowl on Jan. 8 inside the Alamodome, but will instead wait to put pen to paper.
Moss crammed official visits to USC and Miami on the final weekend and has also been high on the likes of Alabama, Arizona State and Oregon during the recruiting process. He is the nation’s No. 6 rated edge and No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Nevada for the 2022 class, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rankings.
“Miami was a really good time last weekend and I thought it was super insightful,” Moss told 247Sports. “I got to see more of what coach
Mario Cristobal is trying to build down there. He had a clear vision of what that program is going to look like and it definitely gave me a lot more to consider. They showed me all the benefits of the program and the university.
“I had been to USC before and this was a different visit. It’s changing a lot and that coaching staff has definitely made a big impact. That’s huge because it’s what that program needed. For me, they were out of the picture because I didn’t believe they had that great of a culture. There was no championship culture, but I think coach
Lincoln Riley and that staff are now trying to fix things and get the team back on track to jump-start big things.”
An important factor working in the Trojans' favor down the stretch? The recent involvement of new assistant coach
Jamar Cain, who also left Oklahoma to join
Lincoln Riley out West.
"Coach Cain was part of that Arizona State staff that was the first Power Five team to offer Cyrus early in the process," the source told 247Sports. "Coach Cain has been there from the beginning. Before the other offers came, he knew Cyrus was the real deal way back in the day."
Relationships have been big for Moss throughout the process. He has ASU on his list of finalists thanks to that early belief from Cain and assistant
Antonio Pierce. Moss cut short his weekend trip to Los Angeles for a one-day official to Miami last Sunday to check in with new coach
Mario Cristobal, who had been recruiting him the hardest of any head coach before leaving Oregon.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Moss is one of the top available players out West. A former safety who has continued to fill out physically, Moss is a twitchy and athletic edge rusher, flashes terrific speed and burst to the outside, constantly keeping offensive tackles on their heels. He's more dynamic with his pass-rush moves, too, looking fluid through his movements and reacting quickly with counter moves. This fall Moss displayed better hand usage than he did as a sophomore two years ago, keeping blockers at arms length.