Landing a big time recruit tends to make waves in the college football world. In the case of the USC Trojans’ recent landing of four-star tight end Mark Bowman, those waves came in a pool.
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On Friday afternoon, Bowman announced his commitment to the Trojans. USC signaled the announcement was coming with a post of its own — and an apparent troll of Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning.
Earlier in May, Lanning went viral for his role in a commitment announcement for five-star defensive end Richard Wesley. He jumped in a pool with Wesley as part of the coveted prospect’s commitment to the Ducks.
On Tuesday, Wesley announced he would be decommitting from Oregon.
The Trojans put their spin on Lanning’s pool jump saga. They posted a clip from “Anchorman” in which actor Will Ferrell — a USC alum — cannonballs into a pool.
✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️ pic.twitter.com/naiKnE4wZm
— USC Football ✌️ (@uscfb) May 30, 2025
The audio of the original clip was replaced by USC’s fight song as Ferrell took flight toward the pool, with the video segueing into a clip of the Trojans’ two-fingered “fight on” gesture and the text, “We got him.”
Bowman, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound recruit from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, is rated as the No. 24 overall player in the 2026 ESPN 300 and ranks as the No. 3 tight end prospect in the class.
He joins a USC recruiting class that currently checks in as ESPN’s top-ranked group in the country for 2026.
