Khaled Holmes, the 6-foot-5, 290-pound four-star offensive lineman from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., is the younger brother of former USC tight end Alex Holmes. By all indications, it appears that Khaled will be following in his brother's footsteps.
"Alex really wants me to go there," Holmes said. "He makes that pretty clear. He's always talking about USC and great things about the program. Every time there's a new story on TV about 'SC, he's like 'see everybody is talking about USC'. He also likes to talk trash about other schools."
Besides the family connections, another thing that the Trojans have going for them is the location. "They are close to home and I really like that," he said. "I love living in Southern California and it would be a hard place to leave. I'm pretty sure I'll end up playing in California.
"USC is definitely my number one school right now and I'd says it's about 85 to 90 percent that I'll pick them."
Holmes, ranked No. 48 in the West by Scout.com, says that USC has a big lead over California, Stanford and Notre Dame and all of his favorites have offered. He has over 20 scholarship offers.
"Even though I'm really high on USC right now, I haven't really thought about committing yet. I think it'll just happen. This is a very important decision that could affect my whole life and I'm not ready to jump into it yet. I'll still want to think about things and take some more time. Even though recruiting can get a little repetitive, it's not too bad. If being highly recruited is a burden, it's a good one to have."
He says that the Trojans are recruiting him for offensive guard. "I'm being recruited by coach Brennan Carroll (tight ends, recruiting coordinator), Nick Holt (defensive coordinator) and Pat Ruel (offensive line)," he said. "They are great guys and they think I'd fit in perfectly with their o-line."
USC is the only school that Holmes has actually visited and if he ends up taking official visits they will most likely be to Cal, Stanford and Notre Dame. "Cal is a pretty consistent team and they are always near the top of the Pac-10, plus they have great academics too.
"Stanford's academics are world-class and the coaches are really high on my grades," Holmes said. "I think the new coaches should help them improve.
"Notre Dame is another program with great tradition and history like USC," he said. "Plus, it's basically a college version of Mater Dei (his high school). It's a small, private catholic school, so the transition would be seamless."
Holmes admits he looks forward to the upcoming college football season to see how everything pans out. "USC is pretty stacked at every position, so I just can't imagine them losing," he said. "Unless they just don't get up for a game or something, I think they'll do really well. Of course, you never know with college football because anything can happen, but I still think it will be a great year for them."
He reports a 3.5 core GPA and a 1970 SAT (three sections).