Lincoln Riley effect: Five players and one coach announce they’re leaving USC
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — The inevitable exodus has begun at USC.
Jake Lichtenstein wraps up Oregon State RB B.J. Baylor during a game in September. Lichtenstein announced Monday he is entering the transfer portal. (Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty)
Edge rushers Hunter Echols and Juliano Falaniko, defensive tackle Jake Lichtenstein and kicker Alex Stadthaus all entered the NCAA transfer portal on Monday, while offensive tackle Jalen McKenzie announced he would forgo an extra season of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
Defensive line coach Vic So’oto also announced on Monday in a social media post that he would not be retained as part of USC’s new staff.
The four departing players are likely just the beginning of major turnover under Lincoln Riley, as the new coach works to rebuild the roster of a team that fell to 4-8 this season, its worst record in 30 years.
An entirely new staff is also in the works, as Riley had already brought a defensive coordinator (Alex Grinch) and receivers coach (Dennis Simmons) with him from Oklahoma. Tulsa offensive line coach Zach Hanson is likely to join the group as a tight ends coach, while Oklahoma outside linebackers and defensive ends coach Jamar Cain is also expected to join USC’s staff.
So’oto is the first of several assistants expected to part ways with USC in the coming days. In a post on social media, the defensive line coach wrote that he was “extremely excited for the next chapter of my career and the challenges that lie ahead.”
“I am disappointed I will not be able to finish the last year of my contract as a USC Trojan,” So’oto wrote. “The peaks and valleys of this profession are what make it special.”
latimes.com
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So what’s the thinking here? I mean, as they say, “it’s quiet … almost too quiet.” We’re still sitting at only 5 announced recruits and a class that is 89th in the country according to Rivals. What’s the model? Do we start getting a steady stream of commitments and flips over the next week, or does the quiet continue until early signing day, when those Riley has been able to flip come springing up from everywhere? Or, are the expectations of the SC faithful too high, and maybe we have a fairly small early signing class (definitely not THIS small),… Read more »
I never expected Lincoln Riley to put together a noteworthy recruiting class, filled with numerous 4/5 stars for USC, in just two weeks. That doesn’t seem reasonable to me, though others may expect much more than me. The more the merrier of course, but I’m much more concerned that he assemble a great staff first.
I’ll judge Riley’s recruiting efforts in the summer, after the second signing date the first Wednesday of Feb, and taking into full consideration the Portal transfers who head into USC.
I would imagine he is getting maybe 3 to 4-hours of sleep if that right now until early signing day arrives. Contacting/visiting all the possibilities (recruits) and leaving the hiring of still assistant coach open spots after that. I too am curious to see what he and the few assistant coaches who came with him will accomplish in measuring his immediate pull as HC of Trojan football. It has been years since I got excited about signing day in anticipation. But I am most curious to see what happens recruiting on the defensive side as that is the question mark… Read more »
Rock, looking at USC prospects on 247 may cheer you up some. Quite a few good players leaning toward USC. I don’t feel to concerned, like Allen I have confidence he knows what he is doing and will bring in some talent. The needs will get filled in later.
USC Basketball plays tonight against Eastern Kentucky at 7pm at the Galen Center. You can watch the game on the P12 network. The Eastern Kentucky Colonels (5-4) are coming off back-to-back-to back tough road losses at West Virginia (80-77) on Nov. 26, at Radford (88-75) on Nov. 28 and at Western Kentucky (85-80) on Dec. 4. EKU has three players averaging in double figures in scoring, led by forwards Jannson Williams (13.1 ppg) and Michael Moreno (13.1 ppg). The Colonels have hit 13 or more three-pointers in seven of their first nine games and hit a season-best 18 at WKU on Dec.… Read more »
If we keep playing good team defense, I’m not afraid of anyone
I love watching our defense play with an intensity that most people associate with a fast-paced offense. USC held WSU to 37.9 percent shooting on Dec. 4 and has held each of its opponent this season to under 40 percent shooting. For the season, USC has held the opposition to 35.2 percent shooting which ranks fifth in the country. Despite allowing WSU to make an opponent-high 40.0 percent from three-point range, USC has held the opposition to a 28.2 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Three inches (that’s right, three inches) of desolate highway to be named ‘Lincoln Riley Highway’
The sudden and unexpected departure of the former OU head coach Lincoln Riley left Sooner Nation and other football fans in shock.
“I found the tiniest section of our most desolate of highways to pay tribute to Coach Riley’s exit from Oklahoma football and the state. This is only fitting as this is the last three inches one sees before leaving our great state heading west,” Senator Bill Coleman said.
koco.com
Petty and a waste of time.
If Brent Venables doesn’t succeed at OU, and the Sooners go downhill post Riley, while USC rides off into a glorious sunset with their guy, god knows what else they will come up with to denigrate Riley.
OU seems very insecure about their expectations under first-time HC Venables. Frankly, I would be too were I a Sooner fan.
Perhaps it isn’t a great idea to come into your first head coaching gig following one of the top coaches in the nation. Maybe Venables will handle it well, and maybe he will have expectations he can’t fullfill as a new HC. He will need a lot of support from the AD and his staff, I hope he gets it and they don’t do like some schools now who fire guys after a couple of years. I would expect to see Stoops spending a lot of time helping him also.
I’m sure glad Lincoln Riley doesn’t need any “help” whatsoever from a past Trojan coach to handle the job. I think we have the exact reverse situation at USC. Let’s keep Riley as far away from the past regime as possible.
He’s undoubtedly very disappointed with USC football’s talent level and makeup.
At the speed he is moving he doesn’t have time to look back.
I whole heartily agree. They are trusting Venables will become another Kirby Smart in creating a sound football team on both sides. Whatever Dabo Sweeney showed Venables better be close to what Smart got working around Saban or this might come back to haunt the Oklahoma AD.
The Sooner Nation and the OU athletic admin are acting more nervous than a cat on a hot tin roof. Good luck Brent. You might really need it.
Clearly, USC won the coaching carousel this year, with LSU running second. The big losers? ND, who went the promotion route which has all the earmarks of our Clay Helton elevation (the players like the DC, you see). The close second there is OU. The Venables hire isn’t bad, but OU is too big a program to be training Venables, and how open is Venables going to be to having Bob Stoops look over his shoulder every minute of the day? If some losses pile up early there, it could get interesting fast!
Venables is a super nice guy. Reminds me of Mike Riley, who was occasionally moderately successful at ORE ST, and not successful at NEB.
The Venables/Stoops tag-team approach isn’t my idea of moving on successfully from Lincoln Riley.
I don’t remember the Coaching Carousel being this crazy before. I must be imagining things, except the part about USC finishing #1. That’s no mirage IMHO.
Venables reminds of a Snarkisian … always with established programs hiding their lack of abilities. We seen Snark on his own. Just a soft, terrible coach.
Exactly … though not sure LSU came out ahead with that creep Kelly. No way is he worth that money. The USC hire sent the college football world reeling !
I think Kelly will struggle at LSU without all the competitive advantages of ND, and by that, I mean the lack of competition altogether! LSU may play the Charleston Southerns of the world just like the rest of the SEC teams (disguised byes all around), but they also play Georgia, Alabama and Florida on a regular basis. I don’t think he’ll play well down there. He should have sat put at crappy ND that would have kept him until he retired. This has all the earmarks of a late-in-career cash grab. The guy’s going to ride this bucking bronco as… Read more »
60-year old Brian Kelly’s amazing move to LSU where he’ll be able to consistently recruit better talent across the board than he could at ND is still fascinating to me as he was literally ND’s all-time most winning coach ever (92-39, but no NCs). He sure walked away from a lot (that statue on campus suddenly went poof), more than the younger Lincoln Riley did IMO.
Will become a BIG attraction in the state. Probably generate hundreds of $$ a year.
THREE INCHES?
That’s the part I don’t get.
Was it intended as a schlong joke? As juvenile and petty as the whole idea is, I wouldn’t discount it. I hate when public officials act like there are not serious problems in their jurisdictions they don’t need to devote legislative time to.
All politics aside — Zach Barnett (The Scoop) — “Lincoln Riley did more than shock the world when he left Oklahoma for USC. He wounded the heart and the ego of a proud fan base. “Oklahoma hadn’t lost a coach to another job in nearly 50 years, and hadn’t seen a coach leave for another college in nearly 75. To anyone 80 or younger, losing a coach to another college job was truly unthinkable — because they’d never had to think it before. Especially when you consider how many glowing things Riley had said about Oklahoma, how many times he’d… Read more »
Suck it , Senator Billy. Is that how you waste your time while representing your constituents?
USC’s Drake London named 2021 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, presented by Nextiva
Dec 7, 2021
USC WR Drake London was named the 2021 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year on Tuesday, Dec. 7. London led the conference in receptions (88) and receiving yards (1,084) despite missing the Trojans’ final four games with an ankle injury.
pac-12.com
If he had finished the season he could have been up for the Heisman.
Drake London was way too good compared to some of the other pampered Trojans who were playing for Helton. He’s just an amazing competitor and I’m really pulling for him in the NFL.
Congrats to him, hope that ankle heals fully and he gets back on the field.
One bright spot to hang our hats on. I really liked seeing him fight for every inch just like the receivers of old. I hope he gets drafted locally because I would love to see him paly again.
Drake sure had a competitive knack for taking the ball from the defender. I marveled at the ease with which he seemed to outmaneuver people and come down with the catch. Once he got hurt, USC football was further weakened to an amazing degree.
Thank goodness Lincoln Riley came along!
Fun fact: After 8 games, Drake had 88 catches. The last player with 88 or more catches after 8 games in a power 5 conference was Michael Crabtree in 2007
On September 18, 2021, Crabtree was inducted into the TEX TECH Football Ring of Honor.
I still remember the Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree completion with one second left that beat #1 TEXAS 39-33. Crabtree finished 5th in the Heisman voting.
I truly believe if Drake had stayed on the same pace he would have finished in the top 5 Heisman voting and a potential invite to New York. USC’s record would have been a big obstacle to overcome. The yards after the catch is what impressed me the most. Drake was just unwilling to go down on the first hit
No doubt. Drake was such an enormously good/fun player to watch. He just ate up the game. I think he might have even ended up top three. Just watching USC play without him was an eye-opener for me.
Riley will most likely not get all of the guys we will have on campus this past week and the week coming up, but it is certainly a good sign. No way they are all here without him, no chance.
If we had a 12 team play off this year, this is what it would look like. Baylor takes Georgia’s spot as a conference champ but ranked below Cincinnati. First round No. 12 Pittsburgh at No. 5 Georgia No. 11 Michigan State at No. 6 Notre Dame No. 10 Utah at No. 7 Ohio State No. 9 Oklahoma State at No. 8 Mississippi Second round Pitt-Georgia winner vs. Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl Michigan State-Notre Dame winner vs. Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl Utah-Ohio State winner vs. Michigan in the Rose Bowl Oklahoma State-Ole Miss winner vs. Alabama in… Read more »
This playoff expansion is about spreading playoff money around to all conferences whether they deserve it or not. And guess who the biggest proponent of this expansion is? Yes., the PAC12 commissioner George Kliavkoff. He wants his champion Utah team is ranked #17 in the polls invited in the party. I don’t buy into that thinking as Utah who lost 3-games(2 of them to MWC level teams) isn’t even in the top 10. Expanding the season having to play 2-extra playoff games is too much. He needs to redirect his energy & attention towards his University administrators getting them to… Read more »
Utah is #11 in the CFP rankings and conference champs. That gets them in. They will be gone in the 1st round. I like these matchups. And you would have 4 more games that mean something and could eliminate the 4 most meaningless bowl games. Ask the FCS if they play too many playoff games.
There is nobody on this team that will be greatly missed. Whoever leaves will be replaced, some easily and some not so easily. Riley has weeded them out, let them know where they stand and the boys are moving on. Good, it is how a new culture is created. Great move by Riley.
With all of the “who’s leaving and who’s staying” talk I haven’t heard anything about Bru McCoy. My prediction is he’s done at USC. He needs to put space between himself and the area. I also think London is gone because even with an improvement of the staff, the risk of injury is too great.
Hopefully, all the USC players entering the Portal won’t get stranded there, going nowhere fast. Clearly, a lot of dead weight needs to leave USC now. Let this rebuild be massive!
How would they like Statesboro, Georgia. Lots of hugs a waitin’ for ’em.
I ain’t good lookin’ baby but I’m someone’s sweet angel-child (Clay Hugs Helton)
Woke up in the morning, baby, I had them Statesboro Blues
Statesboro, Georgia that is
Woke up this morning had them Statesboro Blues
I looked over in the corner, grandma baby had ’em too
Awesome GT!
Famous last words:
“Choosing a coach is an inexact science,” former USC AD Pat Haden said Nov. 30, 2015, the day he elevated Clay Helton from interim to full-time coach. “In Clay’s case, there is exactness.”
what happened to my comment about the “un-exactness” of Pat Haden? Is this bookface now with censoring?😐
What are you talking about? Your comment makes no sense to me.
Hey Doc, sometimes I enter a comment and then when I come back later it isn’t there. What I do is hit refresh (reload) and it comes back up. Not sure if that is your problem but it works for me. Good luck. I haven’t seen them censor much on here.
The Doc’s problem is one of his own confusion, not censorship. It’s too bad he assumed otherwise and unfairly tried to make an issue of it here.
Hold on Allen–not what i was implying and sorry if i offended.
ATL DDS, I checked the records and there was no comment deleted. Is it possible that you didn’t hit the ‘Post’ button after you entered the comment or maybe the comment was made on another blog. Neither Allen or I have censored any comment that you made, ever! I wish you would have contacted me directly if you had a concern then I could have looked into the situaton and tried to give you a resolution. Instead you immediately chose to accuse TDB in a very public way of censoring you. With the amount of time, money and energy we… Read more »
Please guys. Mea Culpa. I probably did forget to hit the post button. 😥
Like in “As a coach he sucks, exactly”?
The five players leaving are being realistic. New coach Lincoln Riley will bring in his type of player they will not get playing time. It’s time to move on or taking a chance of no playing time.
Jimmy Sexton’s client list includes but is not limited to Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin, just-fired Dan Mullen, Kirby Smart, Sark, James Franklin, etc. Steve Spurrier used Sexton too.
Rumors are that Choc Chip Kelly has fired David Dunn and hired Sexton to drill down on the UCLA Bruins for some more cash, or help him get a better contract somewhere else.
It’s amazing to me that Chip thinks he is able to deal from any position of strength. How long can a guy ride the coat tails of a success that happened 8 years ago
Choc Chip Kelly has always been one of the more arrogant, if not downright abrasive, coaches out there.
The truth is, he has UCLA right where he wants them, headed to a Holiday Bowl (perfect for the Bruins), the first Bruins’ bowl appearance since losing the 2017 Cactus Bowl to KSU 35-17.
UCLA isn’t ready to make a football coaching switch, especially when their guy just hung 62 points on USC. Chip’s gonna get more money real soon here and Sexton is just the man to do it. JMHO.
UCLA is totally hosed. Chip’s contract is $4.6 Million for 2022 and 2023, which means that they will need to negotiate the extension next year. Where is UCLA going to go? The market for a name coach is in the $10,000,000 for 5 years range. UW got a deal on Kalen DeBoer. They paid $16,500,000 for 5 years or about 1/3 the cost of name coach. Which means if UCLA wants to get rid of Kelly, they will need to bring in a no namer seeking to make the big time. I could not find what Oregon State is now… Read more »
I was very encouraged to hear that Choc Chip Kelly has switched to Jimmy Sexton to put the screws to UCLA. Go little gutties!
Wasserman an Aikman have to step up again.
We’ll soon see if the Cali public Schools have money to compete.
I’d love to see Choc Chip soon bolt Westwood for a better opportunity, leaving UCLA in the lurch. I’m not expecting it to happen, but if it did (are you listening (Ducks?), the Bruins would really be up a bad creek!
I heard there is no buyout for Chip after January 15, so I’m sure if Oregon wanted him bad enough, they could negotiate that with Sexton. If I’m the Bruin faithful, I hope he goes. Any of the remaining candidates out there, like Tom Herman, Dan Mullen, or even a Pro assistant like Bienemy, who has coached there, or a soon to be fired Pro Head coach, would be an improvement over Chip, IMHO. I hope Chip stays, because he hasn’t been able to recruit well, and is overrated in my book
Very interesting take SDT. As a USC fan, I wouldn’t want to be stuck with either Herman, Mullen, or Bienemy. Each one of those guys has negatives I wouldn’t want USC to absorb. JMHO. ✌
Jim is something how he can get morons like Snark and Goat Kiffin these jobs and these contracts, unreal. These losers should be selling used computers like Snark used to.
I find the players list a bit surprising. I wonder why these guys think leaving is their best option.
Riley is meeting with each player on the team individually and giving them an assessment of what he feels their role will be next season. Some players don’t want to hear that they will be buried on the depth chart next season, especially when they have been a starter. So they leave for greener (hopefully) pastures. Over a thousand players will seek new teams this off season.
During the Helton era, playing on the team was not based on merit but on Favoritism. Toa Lobendahn is a prime example
Ahh, Toa. The player we all loved so much.