Jio Fontan commits to USC

Kevin O'Neil is already making his presence felt in Southern California as he has gotten a commitment from Fordham transfer Jio Fontan.

Fontan, a product of the same high school team that yielded Tyshawn Taylor, Travon Woodall, and four other D1 players, averaged 15.3 ppg as a freshman for Fordham, but decided to leave the school over the summer.

At first he wasn't granted his release, but finally got it last month after head coach Dereck Whittenburg was fired.

Fontan should be expected to contribute major minutes for USC when he becomes eligible in December 2010 as Mike Gerrity and Dwight Lewis are both graduating this spring. With Alex Stephenson and Nikola Vucevic both coming back, head coach Kevin O'Neil has a solid core to recruit and build around.

This addition comes of the heels of the Trojans 22 point win over Tennessee.

While it is still going to take a while for this program to get back to where they were under Tim Floyd, landing players like Fontan, who also had drawn interest from Alabama, Tennessee, and Miami, is a good first step.

Things may be looking up for the Trojans.