The money got to him? Or perhaps he got complacent? Or maybe he worked hard at Oklahoma to keep something Bob Stoops built going and is just mailing it in out in LA. Whatever the reason, Lincoln Riley has lost his edge.
Why do I say this? After all, the USC recruiting class was No. 18 in the country and the top tier of the Big Ten as they make their move. Last year they were a top-10 recruiting program and with the portal combined, they are on the cusp of the top 10 this season as well. I say this because it’s all a mirage.
USC recruiting has been solid since Pete Carroll resurrected the program in the early 2000s. Even with Lane Kiffin battling reduced scholarship numbers or Clay Helton whiffing on a class in 2020, USC football has been in the top 10 in high school recruiting every year but three since 2002. Now you can make it four times with the 2024 class and it’s kind of embarrassing.
At first, when Riley was hired away from Oklahoma I thought he’d have his pick of top recruits on the West Coast. I thought he’d have to be careful with numbers and who he chose and it would be more of a selection process than actual recruitment. But that didn’t happen. Sure, he landed a Malachi Nelson or a Domani Jackson but he also lost some major recruiting battles to teams like Oregon, UGA, Notre Dame, and even UCLA where Chip Kelly hates to recruit. And Riley instantly focused on the transfer portal to fill his needs. And while he got big names like Caleb Williams and Jordan Addison, high school recruiting took a backseat and USC has become somewhat of a revolving door of talent and a lesser high school recruiting power. And that’s not good heading into a tough, deep, and physical Big Ten.
Riley recruited very well at Oklahoma. He made the CFP numerous times, led Heisman winners, and seemed to be solid building talent in the trenches. His defenses stunk but it wasn’t for lack of talent on paper. But in LA, things have become odd. He’s headed into year three and it’s rebuild mode after a horrible 7-5 season. And with a very poor finish to the early signing period, he’s once again relying on the portal to fill gaps. And while that worked in year one, we see how fickle that can be with his lack of success in year two.
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So why? This has happened with a few coaches, mainly Deion Sanders at Colorado. But for Deion, I chalk it up to inexperience and perhaps a lack of desire to build from the ground up. Riley was always an active recruiter at OU and learned from Stoops how to build. So was he born on third base and now that he’s running his own show he’s become lazy? Has he been eyeing other jobs like Jimbo Fisher did at FSU when he let recruiting fall by the wayside? This isn’t a lack of knowledge thing, it’s a strategy. And a path of least resistance — i.e. the easy way out. And it’s a disservice to USC fans who were excited about the future with LR in charge.
Oklahoma fans can laugh and point and say I told you so about his affinity for Alex Grinch (finally fired) or his propensity to ignore defense but even they didn’t see a lack of high school recruiting coming. No one did. USC has one Top 50 player in the country in this 2024 class. Clay Helton had six such players in his third recruiting class. Brent Venables, who took over for Riley and kept building the roster through high school recruiting has two Top 50 players and a top 10 high school class recruiting from Norman, Oklahoma.
Something is amiss in LA and you can blame NIL, the collective, or the portal all you want, but USC is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to building a roster and establishing a consistent culture. Bob Stoops is likely shaking his head somewhere.
