Once crown jewels, many of USC’s best recruits are being mined by the transfer portal
With highly-touted recruits Malachi Nelson, Domani Jackson and Tackett Curtis set to depart, Lincoln Riley says USC will ‘move on with those that are dying to be USC Trojans’. Attempts to keep Curtis fail…
“My energy goes into the people that are here,” Lincoln Riley said Monday, as more players enter the transfer portal. “No bad blood, no ill will to anybody that’s not, but we’re going to move on with those that are dying to be USC Trojans.” (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — The future of USC’s football program – and plenty of others – sat miles away from the crew that had amassed on Howard Jones Field on Monday afternoon, miles away from the debuts of new assistant coaches and a spiraling portal sucking in more names by the minute.
No, the future of the Trojans’ program, really, sat under fluorescent lights in a tiny hearing room in West Los Angeles on Monday, a small group of lawyers meeting for the first time in a proceeding against USC that could change everything. The National Labor Relations Board-backed push to label collegiate student-athletes as employees has been a long time in the making; USC was the guinea pig, a private university oozing with athletics-generated revenue.
If the NLRB’s opening statements on USC players – “they are subject to respondents’ control in performance of their services” – are upheld, it will open doors to widespread stability amid the “craziness” that Coach Lincoln Riley described after practice Monday. No more NIL secrecy. No more transfer-portal ambiguity. Players, as employees, could collectively bargain for rights that would pave the way to a salary cap and a simple free-agency period.
For now, though, Riley is still attempting to navigate his way through the confusing landscape of modern-day college football to rebuild USC. And as the Trojans toss a 7-5 season and attempt to move seamlessly into the Big Ten in 2024, coaching changes have prompted the portal to give – importing Oregon State transfer brothers Easton Macarenas-Arnold and Akili Arnold.
But it’s taken, too. And taken plenty.
On Sunday night, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that former crown jewel quarterback Malachi Nelson was set to hit the portal. Multiple reports came Monday that cornerback Domani Jackson, once a home-run commit out of Mater Dei, would follow. And later Monday, a different source with knowledge of the situation told the Southern California News Group that freshman linebacker Tackett Curtis was set to transfer, a Louisiana product who had won the hearts of most everyone around USC in the fall.
Across the last two recruiting classes, USC drew in 17 prospects rated four stars or better by 247 Sports. Six of the 17 have now transferred as of Monday – including four of five in the Trojans’ 2022 class.
“Look, we’re at a really unique place right now,” Riley said Monday. “We’re having obviously not just one small change on the defensive staff, but a pretty large change, and then we’re kind of caught in this period where transfer portal and NIL have even gone up a level in terms of the craziness and the impact on it more than ever before.
“So many people try to project out what they think is going to happen down the line, and they think you gotta have all the answers right at the beginning. And the reality is, it’s competition, and you never know. It’s fluid, and you never know what’s going to happen, and that’s just kind of part of the position.
“My energy goes into the people that are here,” Riley continued. “No bad blood, no ill will to anybody that’s not, but we’re going to move on with those that are dying to be USC Trojans.”
Each departure makes sense, in its own way, and follows clear winds of change across USC’s program. Jackson never quite bloomed across two years as a Trojan; the coach who recruited him, Donte Williams, is gone, replaced by Doug Belk. Curtis is in a similar situation, as another source with knowledge of the situation told SCNG that inside linebackers coach Brian Odom will be out after the season ends. Nelson, too, is leaving a couple of weeks after Riley made it clear USC would search the portal for quarterbacks.
But all were bedrock in the very foundation of the wobbling Jenga tower Riley has assembled through recruiting at USC. Riley was high, in particular, on Curtis, and a source told SCNG that the staff had several meetings with Curtis to try to push to keep him.
Nelson, too, was supposed to take the crown from Caleb Williams, USC’s path forward at the quarterback position set in gold through his tenure and beyond to 2026 commit Julian Lewis. But Nelson’s freshman year as a Trojan was marred by injury, and the Los Alamitos High product seemed to fade into the background rather than garnering buzz as USC’s future savior.
On Monday, Riley was asked about how his approach to the portal has evolved.
“To your question earlier about the quarterbacks,” he said, acknowledging one reporter, “you want to have guys who are hungry to get on the field right away, but also guys that have a mind to be developed and have a good sense of reality.
“And I think that’s kind of the niche that we’re looking for because it always felt like development is one of the hallmarks of our program, one of the strengths that we have,” Riley continued, “but the other half of that – you have to do your job, the other half of it is you have to have people who are willing to hang in there and go through what it really takes to develop and become a really good player at this level.
Not hard to read between the lines. It largely summarized Riley’s comments, shrouded in code, on outgoing transfers Monday: We want the guys who want to be here.
And it appears, too, that will parlay into recruiting in the future – searching for prospects committed to developing at USC. At the beginning of USC’s rebuild, Riley said Monday, they felt like they wanted to be competitive immediately, buoying a portal-heavy approach.
“Now, it’s starting to shift to really how we want to build it and the best way, which is a little bit more into the high school, the developmental, stacking great classes on top of each other and then using the portal here and there as we need it,” Riley continued.
And for all the transfer portal mess, USC has had a number of recruiting wins in recent weeks, particularly with the Monday commitment of Texas defensive lineman Carlon Jones.
But USC has had plenty of recruiting wins already in Riley’s tenure. And plenty of those wins are now developing elsewhere.
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The early signing period from Dec 20 – Dec 22 has begun This list will be updated as LOI’s come in. So far USC has already received LOI’s from: 1 LB Elijah Newby, CT, 4-star, June commit 2 LB Desman Stephens II, MI, 3-star, late Nov commit 3 EDGE Kameryn Fountain, GA, 4-star, June commit 4 EDGE Lorenzo Cowan, GA, 3-star, late flip from KY 5 S Jarvis Boatwright, FL, 3-star, June commit 6 IOL Jason Zandamela, FL, 4-star, June commit, early enrollee 7 OL/G Makai Saina, TX, 3-star, June commit 8 CB Braylon Conley, TX, 3-star, summer enrollee 9… Read more »
Based upon our 2023 record, the defense literally being a weekly national conversation in the media, and now significant coaching changes, I think we are actually doing ok. Yes, Oregon is mopping the floor, but we are taking steps. Our strength, conditioning and nutrition will need to take some big strides for us to get out of the 2024 season alive. More than possible.
The Ryan Pellum defection at the final hour to ORE really stings. Not because USC doesn’t have enough skill athletes. We always do. But for Dan Lanning and already better talented ORE to be able to come in and rub USC’s nose in it to take a top-notch 10-mile-away Long Beach WR at the snap of a finger and with some NIL dough (I assume) is a really bad sign of the times. USC really needs to seriously work on its recruiting tactics, NIL approach, and ability to close the deal (that’s what Ed O and Pete were always so… Read more »
I agree we gotta get the NIL squared away right now and absolutely PC and Coach O would literally sit on these verbal recruits daily to keep them cooled until they sign. We don’t have many selling points right now, except what could be with a new staff and conceptually a new approach. What would really help as we enter arguably the toughest conference, are practices structured like PC’s. Bloodbath physical and mentally challenging.
Frankly, regardless of NIL, both Pete Carroll and Ed O were easily superior to any recruiters USC has now.
Ed never slept. Pete was also relentless and his easy-going, confident, charming manner was the perfect bookend to Ed’s totally unique aggressive field-level appeal to most any recruit he encountered. USC signed several #1 classes, or at least top five classes when I published SuperPrep.
As a recruiting team, Pete and Ed were the best recruiting duo in the country, and nobody else was even close to them when they were a team.
MISS ST transfer CB DeCarlos Nicholson commits to USC Chris Trevino (USCFootball.com) — The Trojans secondary received a big boost for Wednesday’s National Signing Day with a commitment from MISS ST CB DeCarlos Nicholson (6-3, 195). The senior Nicholson joins his Bulldogs teammate, RB Jo’quavious “Woody” Marks, who also committed to USC on Wednesday. The senior will help offset the recent loss of soph starter Domani Jackson to the NCAA Transfer Portal and the graduation of Christian Roland-Wallace. USC will also bring in three freshmen CBs in the 2024 class, headlined by All-American early enrollee Marcelles Williams. USC will be in the market… Read more »
Allen,
how do recruiting rankings work? I was told is is based upon potential or where they possibly would be drafted. This makes no sense to me. Why not just evaluate where kids are right now? Or maybe I was misinformed.
I don’t know how these people do it nowadays. So I can’t speak for anyone else, and my era didn’t have some of the same information tools that are available today. But as I see it, each and every prospect analysis involves some sort of projection about player development and evolution, so it can’t ever just be about how kids look in HS right now. All these players change and grow, or sometimes stagnate, even regress, or are set back by life’s other challenges, as you know. Superior recruiting ability is all about projection, and it can become very complicated,… Read more »
With ORE unexpectedly stealing superior local WR Ryan Pellum from USC today, and only 18 players signing, 247 has dropped USC’s recruiting rank to #20, while ORE moves up to #4.
Rivals, which had Pellum as USC’s #1 commitment before today, has also dropped USC to #21 (assuming USC adds 4-stars TE Walter Matthews and DB Isaiah Rubin), while ORE sits at #7 for the time being.
Lincoln Riley just appeared on the B1G Network. For the QB position, LR looks for a winner, a leader, an inspirational guy who can captivate the room. Good physical skills and mental processing ability. WR Xavier Jordan — Consistent playmaker, explosive, dominant, versatile, possible early impact guy. Class strength — OL, DL, and secondary. These were the three areas that really needed to be addressed the hardest. Building up the lines on both sides was the biggest priority. To become bigger, and more physical up front. Four or five new secondary guys will have a chance to come in and… Read more »
Lincoln Riley went hard late after 5-star Texas QB DJ Lagway, the MaxPreps POY who has been committed to the Florida Gators for over a year, but Lagway hung tight with the Gators and just signed with them.
While the prospects of flipping Lagway were always remote, Riley’s efforts show just how much he is feeling the heat to get more QBs into USC’s system as we have only Miller Moss as a recruited scholarship QB on the roster now.
Supposedly, Will Howard from KSU will be coming aboard.
Local WR Ryan Pellum from Long Beach Millikan Flips Commitment from USC to ORE Max Torres (Ducks Digest) — The 5-foot-11, 170-pound 4-star WR is the second big flip of the day for ORE, as St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers WR Jeremiah McClellan announced he would be flipping his commitment from OHIO ST to the Ducks. Dan Lanning and the Ducks continue to place a strong emphasis on not only the Golden State, but specifically in the talent-rich hotbed that is Southern California. Wide receiver is a position the Ducks are looking to retool ahead of the 2024 season after losing record-setting… Read more »
USC football expected to receive commitment from fifth-year SR transfer running back Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Marks rushed for 1,883 yds and 22 TDs in his four seasons at MISS ST. He also caught 214 passes (all-time leader) for 1,225 yds and five scores.
Marks, originally from Atlanta, is the fifth USC transfer portal addition this month joining MICH ST long snapper Hank Pepper, VANDY DL Nate Clifton, ORE ST LB Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and ORE ST DB Akili Arnold. The Trojans are also expected to add KSU QB Will Howard soon.
Colin Cowherd — “I’ve been saying this to the USC recruiting people for a long time. If you guys don’t sign a 5-star corner for the next decade, I’m fine with it. Get bigger and get stronger. And USC’s class today has much more size than in previous classes. And Kirk Ferentz’s criticism of Lincoln Riley is right. “If you don’t hit in practice, you’re not going to be physical in games. When you’re throwing it around the yard in practice, it’s very difficult to build toughness. There’s no question USC has been an egregiously bad tackling team, fundamentally poor,… Read more »
On this signing day, I thought I would point out that impact of having elite coaching, elite player development, elite results AND most importantly an extremely well funded and managed “pay for play” NIL. tOSU signed an amazing class this year. But, it has had an extremely well funded and managed “pay for play” structure in place for years. Justin Fields said he as paid about $300,000 plus a car to transfer from GA to tOSU. SC never engaged in that type of conduct (despite the totally bogus findings of the NCAA in the Bush case). To make matters worse,… Read more »
While I 100% agree with your take, I will say this. There are only about 30 5 star kids in total every year. About 10 or so are OL and DL. Those spots are few and far between.
I am excited that we got 2 top 250 interior D linemen. That’s a positive direction for sure.
USCfootball.com’s Dan Weber on high profile Portal losses, player development, and the problematic USC “culture” Weber — “It wasn’t going to happen for them here. It hadn’t happened for them here. Maybe it will happen somewhere else. And maybe USC will figure out this whole “player development” thing with the kinds of new coaches coming in that CLR is hiring. Scratch that “maybe.” There can be no “maybe” here. Player development has to be at least as important as recruiting. Because if you develop incoming players, you must be coaching your players right, day to day, week to week, game… Read more »
Allen, Thanks for posting this. IMO, Dan got it mostly correct. I think the worst offender in the failure to develop players was Donte, and I think it a huge improvement in staff that he is gone. I think the new D staff will be a significant improvement over the old. My question is the same as Dan’s – what about the S&C program? I just do not understand why Wylie was kept. I am willing to trust Lynn, Belk and Entz will be able to evaluate him and his progress. But, to be honest, I am skeptical. I really… Read more »
May change after the new D staff gets in place and can evaluate Wylie. LR seem very intent on changing. And, next year is going to be VERY rough. Rare that you and I agree, but on this we do, look for an mediocre year in 2024 (8-4 to 6-6), but look for improvement in the basics. Do not like being there, but it is what it is.
And we’re totally on the same page with these highly impressive new defensive coaching additions, LR’s adaptation to the disastrous 2023 season so far, and what things look like for across-the-program rebuilding in 2024.
Patience is my new watchword for approaching USC football. Get it done slowly if necessary, but get it done right — and fix the basics because nothing else works without a strong foundation.
Yeah, it sucks because a change in S&C is something that takes a long time to manifest in results. In many ways, that is the thing that needed to change the fastest – especially after we let UCLA push us around.
Wylie is taking heat for a philosophy that taught and developed quickness over physicality. He worked within the framework that he was instructed. Riley and Grinch both wanted their big people to be more lean and athletic. With a change in direction we shall see how he (Wylie) changes his approach. I have no idea what he does culturally, but I do know that he is capable of adding size to players. If high school programs can do it, it’s not rocket science.
Allen, you should print this Dan Weber article on paper, frame it and send it to LR to hang in his office so he sees it every day as a guide to how to build a football program properly!
I suspect LR’s got his hands full with too many articles and criticisms as it is. Hopefully, he’s on overdrive about what went wrong and how to fix the problems.
The word is out that LR took this 2023 season pretty hard personally.
I think full-on national humiliation isn’t what he expected in his second year at USC, and with these three new extremely well-regarded defensive minds who are now coaching USC’s D, I’m convinced LR has done as well as anyone could have possibly expected in the beginning of this extreme late second-year rebuild.
“…extreme late second-year rebuild.” That is the biggest shocker to me, coupled with the underwhelming early signing day results. I fully expected LR would be killing the recruiting trail by year 3 and be firmly in the top 5 in the rankings. Grinch should have never made it out of Norman on the plane. We can’t turn back the clock on the wasted 2 years. I sure hope he’s getting it right this time around. No reason the blue blood Trojan program in a power 2 conference with a national footprint can’t be a perennial contender. LR is either capable… Read more »
Why National Signing Day Matters While the transfer portal allows teams to build beyond signing day, 80% of players making up FBS rosters this season were at the school they signed with out of high school, according to ESPN Stats & Info research.
For the four teams in the College Football Playoff, 82% of their starters this season are recruited players, not transfers.
Of all the guys we are picking up today I am most interested to see Bryan Jackson. 240lb running back with offers from everyone. Joyner and Peterson are both fairly big backs, but Jackson is huge. A Big10 back for sure.
He can also try and copy Barkley and Cassel, both have made a lot of money being backup QBs in the NFL, nice paycheck and staying in good shape. After five years in the League, nice pension too.
he has options.
Of course the portal was necessary last year since Helton stopped recruiting in his last two years. A mess for certain. I just hope LR dials up Mapquest and finds Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and Bishop Gorman soon. Some rewards, but the portal had so many downsides that we need to hunker down to fundamentals again and punch / counterpunch with Georgia, Ala, Oregon, etc on the recruiting trail. Can LR be transformative? Looks like we may be headed in the right direction. Let’s gets some of those 4*/5* studs 30-45 mins away from campus.
I am starting to think that perhaps those locals are not worth it. It seems they all want the money first and USC gets outbid on all of them. Then those 5 stars we got washed out and left. Hopefully our 4 star recruits will perform and hopefully stay. I really think this rebuild is just getting started now that Caleb is gone.
Marc Kulken says it well “More blue collar and less blue blood”. Get the guys with a work ethic.
New Crystal Ball forecast in for USC with a top transfer portal DB USC looks to be in a good spot to land one of the portal’s top safeties Greg Biggins (USCFootball.com) — Former UCLA DB Kamari Ramsey had an ambitious visit schedule over the last week but it sounds like he’s closing in on making his decision. Ramsey is one of the top safety prospects in the transfer portal. He was rated the No. 176 player nationally in the Top247 coming out of HS and is currently rated the No. 39 player overall and the No. 2 safety in the 247Sports… Read more »
Our defense is going through big changes. I know we are not done grabbing portal guys and also seeing more leave. After the last two years the only a handful of guys I’d be bummed to see go that were contributors on D.
Something does seem to be off at USC. Nelson, Jackson, and now Curtis are now in the football transfer portal. I applaud the additions to the coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball, but they need to have good players to coach. USC Basketball is underperforming with the talent they have. Losing to UC Irvine and Long Beach State is totally unacceptable. At least the women’s basketball team is doing well.
No culture problems with USC women’s hoops, that’s for sure. And 6-2 G JuJu Watkins is one of those otherworldly talents you just don’t see every decade.
The No. 6 USC women’s basketball team drained an all-time high 16 threes in a high-powered 93-44 win over visiting CSF last night at Galen Center.
Now 9-0 overall, USC has recorded back-to-back 9-0 starts for just the second time, going back to the 1983-84 (10-0) and 1984-85 (10-0) seasons.
Local media taking shots, that’s cool. This year was rough. But the guys we lost in the portal – Nelson, Raleek, and Tackett all had reasons to jump in that had nothing to do with culture, it was all them. Riley is bringing in a QB, Nelson would be QB3. Raleek was passed over by the two incoming freshman. At best he is RB3 or 4. Tackett. Was just jumped by EAM. He will be ILB1. Domani? Not sure. He was a starter all year. Looked likely he would again this year. We are definitely changing. Not sure what the… Read more »
It seems like the uneven, sometimes stark decline of USC football since Reggie Bush was targeted by the NCAA may have finally hit ground zero. Nowhere to go but up from here.
The CFB national and local media have totally teed off on Lincoln Riley.
I suspect LR can’t believe the rather lowly spot he finds himself in — and from the look of things so far, he’s reacting in a way that shows promise, maturity, and a willingness to learn some new things that were missing from his coaching repertoire.
Allen, LR tried to quick fix the program with too much Portal recruiting and even now that he is under the gun, he is still messing with Portal skill recruits, especially QBs and giving his underclassmen the attitude they don’t matter. He doesn’t seem to have the patience or the feeling of security he can build the program from scratch. But he is pointing the finger at those who are bolting they don’t have the patience. My thinking is he may not be that good of a judge in position players outside his QBs & WRs. I honestly have no… Read more »
The 2024 USC football season figures to be one of the least predictable ones I can remember, except “mediocre” comes to mind as the best adjective I can come up with at this stage. I don’t think 2024’s gonna be pretty for us, but at this stage, a strong foundation, culture, discipline, creativity, dedication, development, patience, confidence, and balance all come to mind as aspects of Trojan football that I would like to see returned to USC’s storied football history. Whatever immediate success USC has coming up is pure gravy as far as I’m concerned. Patience is my new approach… Read more »
Allen. Love the post. Totally agree. I honestly believe the best course is to allow LR to figure it out. And, I think he will. But, as he does, I do not expect SC to be elite.
Something’s Really Off at USC Antonio Morales and Bruce Feldman (The Athletic) — The coaching staff added talent from the portal last offseason. But the leadership was never replaced. “We knew they were a big transfer portal team,” one Pac-12 analyst said. “With that, when teams like that are going well, you have momentum and things are good. But then you have situations like USC had, where people become independent contractors. That can really set you back if you don’t have a good culture.” The Trojan Walk was also something that came up often in discussions about USC. The… Read more »
The early signing period from Dec 20 – Dec 22 has begun This list will be updated as LOI’s come in. So far USC has already received LOI’s from: 1 LB Elijah Newby, CT, 4-star, June commit 2 LB Desman Stephens II, MI, 3-star, late Nov commit 3 EDGE Kameryn Fountain, GA, 4-star, June commit 4 EDGE Lorenzo Cowan, GA, 3-star, late flip from KY 5 S Jarvis Boatwright, FL, 3-star, June commit 6 IOL Jason Zandamela, FL, 4-star, June commit, early enrollee 7 OL/G Makai Saina, TX, 3-star, June commit 8 CB Braylon Conley, TX, 3-star, summer enrollee 9… Read more »
Based upon our 2023 record, the defense literally being a weekly national conversation in the media, and now significant coaching changes, I think we are actually doing ok. Yes, Oregon is mopping the floor, but we are taking steps. Our strength, conditioning and nutrition will need to take some big strides for us to get out of the 2024 season alive. More than possible.
The Ryan Pellum defection at the final hour to ORE really stings. Not because USC doesn’t have enough skill athletes. We always do. But for Dan Lanning and already better talented ORE to be able to come in and rub USC’s nose in it to take a top-notch 10-mile-away Long Beach WR at the snap of a finger and with some NIL dough (I assume) is a really bad sign of the times. USC really needs to seriously work on its recruiting tactics, NIL approach, and ability to close the deal (that’s what Ed O and Pete were always so… Read more »
I agree we gotta get the NIL squared away right now and absolutely PC and Coach O would literally sit on these verbal recruits daily to keep them cooled until they sign. We don’t have many selling points right now, except what could be with a new staff and conceptually a new approach. What would really help as we enter arguably the toughest conference, are practices structured like PC’s. Bloodbath physical and mentally challenging.
Frankly, regardless of NIL, both Pete Carroll and Ed O were easily superior to any recruiters USC has now.
Ed never slept. Pete was also relentless and his easy-going, confident, charming manner was the perfect bookend to Ed’s totally unique aggressive field-level appeal to most any recruit he encountered. USC signed several #1 classes, or at least top five classes when I published SuperPrep.
As a recruiting team, Pete and Ed were the best recruiting duo in the country, and nobody else was even close to them when they were a team.
Amen Allen
MISS ST transfer CB DeCarlos Nicholson commits to USC Chris Trevino (USCFootball.com) — The Trojans secondary received a big boost for Wednesday’s National Signing Day with a commitment from MISS ST CB DeCarlos Nicholson (6-3, 195). The senior Nicholson joins his Bulldogs teammate, RB Jo’quavious “Woody” Marks, who also committed to USC on Wednesday. The senior will help offset the recent loss of soph starter Domani Jackson to the NCAA Transfer Portal and the graduation of Christian Roland-Wallace. USC will also bring in three freshmen CBs in the 2024 class, headlined by All-American early enrollee Marcelles Williams. USC will be in the market… Read more »
Highest ranked overall recruit to sign with SC per Rivals is #89. Ugh. Good luck getting a foothold in the Big Ten with that performance.
Allen,
how do recruiting rankings work? I was told is is based upon potential or where they possibly would be drafted. This makes no sense to me. Why not just evaluate where kids are right now? Or maybe I was misinformed.
I don’t know how these people do it nowadays. So I can’t speak for anyone else, and my era didn’t have some of the same information tools that are available today. But as I see it, each and every prospect analysis involves some sort of projection about player development and evolution, so it can’t ever just be about how kids look in HS right now. All these players change and grow, or sometimes stagnate, even regress, or are set back by life’s other challenges, as you know. Superior recruiting ability is all about projection, and it can become very complicated,… Read more »
USC’s recruiting stock has dropped
With ORE unexpectedly stealing superior local WR Ryan Pellum from USC today, and only 18 players signing, 247 has dropped USC’s recruiting rank to #20, while ORE moves up to #4.
Rivals, which had Pellum as USC’s #1 commitment before today, has also dropped USC to #21 (assuming USC adds 4-stars TE Walter Matthews and DB Isaiah Rubin), while ORE sits at #7 for the time being.
Lincoln Riley just appeared on the B1G Network. For the QB position, LR looks for a winner, a leader, an inspirational guy who can captivate the room. Good physical skills and mental processing ability. WR Xavier Jordan — Consistent playmaker, explosive, dominant, versatile, possible early impact guy. Class strength — OL, DL, and secondary. These were the three areas that really needed to be addressed the hardest. Building up the lines on both sides was the biggest priority. To become bigger, and more physical up front. Four or five new secondary guys will have a chance to come in and… Read more »
Lincoln Riley went hard late after 5-star Texas QB DJ Lagway, the MaxPreps POY who has been committed to the Florida Gators for over a year, but Lagway hung tight with the Gators and just signed with them.
While the prospects of flipping Lagway were always remote, Riley’s efforts show just how much he is feeling the heat to get more QBs into USC’s system as we have only Miller Moss as a recruited scholarship QB on the roster now.
Supposedly, Will Howard from KSU will be coming aboard.
Local WR Ryan Pellum from Long Beach Millikan Flips Commitment from USC to ORE Max Torres (Ducks Digest) — The 5-foot-11, 170-pound 4-star WR is the second big flip of the day for ORE, as St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers WR Jeremiah McClellan announced he would be flipping his commitment from OHIO ST to the Ducks. Dan Lanning and the Ducks continue to place a strong emphasis on not only the Golden State, but specifically in the talent-rich hotbed that is Southern California. Wide receiver is a position the Ducks are looking to retool ahead of the 2024 season after losing record-setting… Read more »
USC football expected to receive commitment from fifth-year SR transfer running back Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks
The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Marks rushed for 1,883 yds and 22 TDs in his four seasons at MISS ST. He also caught 214 passes (all-time leader) for 1,225 yds and five scores.
Marks, originally from Atlanta, is the fifth USC transfer portal addition this month joining MICH ST long snapper Hank Pepper, VANDY DL Nate Clifton, ORE ST LB Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and ORE ST DB Akili Arnold. The Trojans are also expected to add KSU QB Will Howard soon.
247sports.com
Colin Cowherd — “I’ve been saying this to the USC recruiting people for a long time. If you guys don’t sign a 5-star corner for the next decade, I’m fine with it. Get bigger and get stronger. And USC’s class today has much more size than in previous classes. And Kirk Ferentz’s criticism of Lincoln Riley is right. “If you don’t hit in practice, you’re not going to be physical in games. When you’re throwing it around the yard in practice, it’s very difficult to build toughness. There’s no question USC has been an egregiously bad tackling team, fundamentally poor,… Read more »
That farmer in Iowa has enough of his own problems … soft schedule saves that fraud
It’s a mystery for now…
Colin Cowherd — “There may be some news on Caleb Williams coming out in the next week or two that I don’t love.”
On this signing day, I thought I would point out that impact of having elite coaching, elite player development, elite results AND most importantly an extremely well funded and managed “pay for play” NIL. tOSU signed an amazing class this year. But, it has had an extremely well funded and managed “pay for play” structure in place for years. Justin Fields said he as paid about $300,000 plus a car to transfer from GA to tOSU. SC never engaged in that type of conduct (despite the totally bogus findings of the NCAA in the Bush case). To make matters worse,… Read more »
While I 100% agree with your take, I will say this. There are only about 30 5 star kids in total every year. About 10 or so are OL and DL. Those spots are few and far between.
I am excited that we got 2 top 250 interior D linemen. That’s a positive direction for sure.
USCfootball.com’s Dan Weber on high profile Portal losses, player development, and the problematic USC “culture” Weber — “It wasn’t going to happen for them here. It hadn’t happened for them here. Maybe it will happen somewhere else. And maybe USC will figure out this whole “player development” thing with the kinds of new coaches coming in that CLR is hiring. Scratch that “maybe.” There can be no “maybe” here. Player development has to be at least as important as recruiting. Because if you develop incoming players, you must be coaching your players right, day to day, week to week, game… Read more »
Allen, Thanks for posting this. IMO, Dan got it mostly correct. I think the worst offender in the failure to develop players was Donte, and I think it a huge improvement in staff that he is gone. I think the new D staff will be a significant improvement over the old. My question is the same as Dan’s – what about the S&C program? I just do not understand why Wylie was kept. I am willing to trust Lynn, Belk and Entz will be able to evaluate him and his progress. But, to be honest, I am skeptical. I really… Read more »
I am disappointed and surprised Wylie still has a job with USC football as well. ✌
May change after the new D staff gets in place and can evaluate Wylie. LR seem very intent on changing. And, next year is going to be VERY rough. Rare that you and I agree, but on this we do, look for an mediocre year in 2024 (8-4 to 6-6), but look for improvement in the basics. Do not like being there, but it is what it is.
Actually, I think we agree a lot RJJ.
And we’re totally on the same page with these highly impressive new defensive coaching additions, LR’s adaptation to the disastrous 2023 season so far, and what things look like for across-the-program rebuilding in 2024.
Patience is my new watchword for approaching USC football. Get it done slowly if necessary, but get it done right — and fix the basics because nothing else works without a strong foundation.
Yeah, it sucks because a change in S&C is something that takes a long time to manifest in results. In many ways, that is the thing that needed to change the fastest – especially after we let UCLA push us around.
Wylie is taking heat for a philosophy that taught and developed quickness over physicality. He worked within the framework that he was instructed. Riley and Grinch both wanted their big people to be more lean and athletic. With a change in direction we shall see how he (Wylie) changes his approach. I have no idea what he does culturally, but I do know that he is capable of adding size to players. If high school programs can do it, it’s not rocket science.
Then Bennie Wylie’s problem was that he couldn’t develop quickness either. He flat-out failed in that regard too.
So what he delivered was a slow, weak team with insufficient size.
Wylie’s obviously no rocket scientist, so maybe some improved, more intelligent instructions from LR and D’Anton Lynn can help him finally produce.
Allen, you should print this Dan Weber article on paper, frame it and send it to LR to hang in his office so he sees it every day as a guide to how to build a football program properly!
I suspect LR’s got his hands full with too many articles and criticisms as it is. Hopefully, he’s on overdrive about what went wrong and how to fix the problems.
The word is out that LR took this 2023 season pretty hard personally.
I think full-on national humiliation isn’t what he expected in his second year at USC, and with these three new extremely well-regarded defensive minds who are now coaching USC’s D, I’m convinced LR has done as well as anyone could have possibly expected in the beginning of this extreme late second-year rebuild.
“…extreme late second-year rebuild.” That is the biggest shocker to me, coupled with the underwhelming early signing day results. I fully expected LR would be killing the recruiting trail by year 3 and be firmly in the top 5 in the rankings. Grinch should have never made it out of Norman on the plane. We can’t turn back the clock on the wasted 2 years. I sure hope he’s getting it right this time around. No reason the blue blood Trojan program in a power 2 conference with a national footprint can’t be a perennial contender. LR is either capable… Read more »
Why National Signing Day Matters
While the transfer portal allows teams to build beyond signing day, 80% of players making up FBS rosters this season were at the school they signed with out of high school, according to ESPN Stats & Info research.
For the four teams in the College Football Playoff, 82% of their starters this season are recruited players, not transfers.
espn.com
Of all the guys we are picking up today I am most interested to see Bryan Jackson. 240lb running back with offers from everyone. Joyner and Peterson are both fairly big backs, but Jackson is huge. A Big10 back for sure.
Great offer list! Have no idea why he’s only a 3-star. Makes no sense.
If Moss sticks around he could be the first person to graduate with a doctorate from USC on his football scholarhsip.
He can also try and copy Barkley and Cassel, both have made a lot of money being backup QBs in the NFL, nice paycheck and staying in good shape. After five years in the League, nice pension too.
he has options.
Of course the portal was necessary last year since Helton stopped recruiting in his last two years. A mess for certain. I just hope LR dials up Mapquest and finds Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and Bishop Gorman soon. Some rewards, but the portal had so many downsides that we need to hunker down to fundamentals again and punch / counterpunch with Georgia, Ala, Oregon, etc on the recruiting trail. Can LR be transformative? Looks like we may be headed in the right direction. Let’s gets some of those 4*/5* studs 30-45 mins away from campus.
I am starting to think that perhaps those locals are not worth it. It seems they all want the money first and USC gets outbid on all of them. Then those 5 stars we got washed out and left. Hopefully our 4 star recruits will perform and hopefully stay. I really think this rebuild is just getting started now that Caleb is gone.
Marc Kulken says it well “More blue collar and less blue blood”. Get the guys with a work ethic.
New Crystal Ball forecast in for USC with a top transfer portal DB USC looks to be in a good spot to land one of the portal’s top safeties Greg Biggins (USCFootball.com) — Former UCLA DB Kamari Ramsey had an ambitious visit schedule over the last week but it sounds like he’s closing in on making his decision. Ramsey is one of the top safety prospects in the transfer portal. He was rated the No. 176 player nationally in the Top247 coming out of HS and is currently rated the No. 39 player overall and the No. 2 safety in the 247Sports… Read more »
USC has also offered to his partner John Humphrey SR, CB
6-2
176
John Muir
(Pasadena, CA)
Our defense is going through big changes. I know we are not done grabbing portal guys and also seeing more leave. After the last two years the only a handful of guys I’d be bummed to see go that were contributors on D.
Korey Foreman’s finally in the Portal.
He’ll always have the 2022 USC/UCLA game.
Thank you Korey! Who wants you now? ✌
https://twitter.com/i/status/1594189994863869953
Korey Foreman in portal. One great moment we won’t forget.
Something does seem to be off at USC. Nelson, Jackson, and now Curtis are now in the football transfer portal. I applaud the additions to the coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball, but they need to have good players to coach. USC Basketball is underperforming with the talent they have. Losing to UC Irvine and Long Beach State is totally unacceptable. At least the women’s basketball team is doing well.
No culture problems with USC women’s hoops, that’s for sure. And 6-2 G JuJu Watkins is one of those otherworldly talents you just don’t see every decade.
The No. 6 USC women’s basketball team drained an all-time high 16 threes in a high-powered 93-44 win over visiting CSF last night at Galen Center.
Now 9-0 overall, USC has recorded back-to-back 9-0 starts for just the second time, going back to the 1983-84 (10-0) and 1984-85 (10-0) seasons.
Congrats to Lindsay Gottlieb. Job well done.
Local media taking shots, that’s cool. This year was rough. But the guys we lost in the portal – Nelson, Raleek, and Tackett all had reasons to jump in that had nothing to do with culture, it was all them. Riley is bringing in a QB, Nelson would be QB3. Raleek was passed over by the two incoming freshman. At best he is RB3 or 4. Tackett. Was just jumped by EAM. He will be ILB1. Domani? Not sure. He was a starter all year. Looked likely he would again this year. We are definitely changing. Not sure what the… Read more »
Leadership…….no leadership……no team…….no loyalty…….no respect……and a bunch other no’s.
It seems like the uneven, sometimes stark decline of USC football since Reggie Bush was targeted by the NCAA may have finally hit ground zero. Nowhere to go but up from here.
The CFB national and local media have totally teed off on Lincoln Riley.
I suspect LR can’t believe the rather lowly spot he finds himself in — and from the look of things so far, he’s reacting in a way that shows promise, maturity, and a willingness to learn some new things that were missing from his coaching repertoire.
Fight On Lincoln! Show us what you’re made of.
Allen, LR tried to quick fix the program with too much Portal recruiting and even now that he is under the gun, he is still messing with Portal skill recruits, especially QBs and giving his underclassmen the attitude they don’t matter. He doesn’t seem to have the patience or the feeling of security he can build the program from scratch. But he is pointing the finger at those who are bolting they don’t have the patience. My thinking is he may not be that good of a judge in position players outside his QBs & WRs. I honestly have no… Read more »
The 2024 USC football season figures to be one of the least predictable ones I can remember, except “mediocre” comes to mind as the best adjective I can come up with at this stage. I don’t think 2024’s gonna be pretty for us, but at this stage, a strong foundation, culture, discipline, creativity, dedication, development, patience, confidence, and balance all come to mind as aspects of Trojan football that I would like to see returned to USC’s storied football history. Whatever immediate success USC has coming up is pure gravy as far as I’m concerned. Patience is my new approach… Read more »
Allen. Love the post. Totally agree. I honestly believe the best course is to allow LR to figure it out. And, I think he will. But, as he does, I do not expect SC to be elite.
Something’s Really Off at USC Antonio Morales and Bruce Feldman (The Athletic) — The coaching staff added talent from the portal last offseason. But the leadership was never replaced. “We knew they were a big transfer portal team,” one Pac-12 analyst said. “With that, when teams like that are going well, you have momentum and things are good. But then you have situations like USC had, where people become independent contractors. That can really set you back if you don’t have a good culture.” The Trojan Walk was also something that came up often in discussions about USC. The… Read more »