Early national signing day 2020: Who’s joining USC and UCLA?

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant hurdles for college football programs trying to deploy traditional recruiting efforts, but that’s not stopping many of the nation’s top high school football players from signing national letters of intent Wednesday with the opening of the early signing period.

For many universities, including USC and UCLA, 2021 prospect class evaluations have been made almost entirely from video. Many of the recruits haven’t played this season because of regional coronavirus restrictions. In-person interviews with prospects and meet-and-greets with parents often have been replaced by meetings over Zoom and FaceTime.

USC beat writer Ryan Kartje and UCLA beat writer Ben Bolch take a closer look at the challenges both programs have been facing:

Here are the players who have signed with USC and UCLA on Wednesday. The list will be updated as USC and UCLA announce each signing.

UCLA: Josh Moore — Safety; Marist School; Atlanta

USC: Kyron Ware-Hudson — WR; Mater Dei; Santa Ana

UCLA: AJ Campbell — DE; Copley High School; Akron, Ohio

USC: Colin Mobley — DE; DeMatha Catholic High School; Hyattsville, Md.

USC: Michael Trigg — TE; Carrollwood Day High School; Tampa, Fla.

USC: Ty Buchanan — OT; Calallen High School; Corpus Christi, Texas

USC: Joseph Manjack — WR; Memorial High School; Tomball, Texas

USC: Brandon Campbell — RB; Katy High School; Katy, Texas

UCLA: Christian Burkhalter — DE; Spanish Fort High School; Spanish Fort, Ala.

Mission Viejo High School has several players who are signing Wednesday with programs across the nation: