Lincoln Riley hire at USC alters Pac-12, national recruiting landscape

Lincoln Riley made recruiting in California one of his biggest priorities during his time at Oklahoma. Now he’ll be recruiting the Golden State for one of the nation’s golden programs.

Multiple reports, including from On3’s Matt Zenitz, have Riley leaving Oklahoma to take the coaching job at USC. To say this will have a dramatic impact on the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles would be an understatement.

“This is a ‘holy shit’ moment,” a veteran Big 12 assistant coach said shortly after the news broke. “Lincoln was already the best recruiter in California. Now he gets to do it for USC? He’ll have the five stars lined up ready to commit before the plane even lands in California.”

Lincoln Riley will surely dominate in Southland

This decision impacts so many recruits. No hire this silly season meant more from a recruiting standpoint for an entire state and region than the one at USC.

USC athletic director Mike Bohn hit a home run, and it’s officially open season on every top prospect – committed and uncommitted – in California and throughout the Pac-12 recruiting footprint. Heck, the same could be said about top national recruits.

“Everybody on the OU commit list and all the top players in California are now fair game,” a Pac-12 assistant said. “This is the story of the recruiting season.”

This is the type of move that surely will give USC recruiting juice with elite prospects such as Five-Star Plus+ cornerback Domani Jackson of Mater Dei (Calif.) Santa Ana. Jackson was a longtime USC commitment before backing off and looking heavily at Alabama and Michigan.

His teammate and longtime Sooners commitment Raleek Brown, a four-star running back and a top-55 player in the country, already has tweeted about the possibility of staying home.

Lincoln Riley’s move will cause nationwide ripples

Then there is the collection of 2023 recruits from the Southland who are committed to OU. The headliner is Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Malachi Nelson of Los Alamitos High. He’s the No. 1 player in California’s junior class and the face of the Sooners’ elite 2023 class. Nelson was a priority recruit for the Trojans, but OU won out because of Riley’s high-octane offense.

Now that offense will be right down the street.

And if Nelson has second thoughts, so will his four-star teammates and Sooners 2023 commits Makai Lemon and DeAndre Moore Jr. Both Lemon and Moore were swayed by the explosive OU attack.

Plus, consider players in the region committed to OU or those who have been linked heavily to the Sooners.

We’re talking about OU four-star OT commit Jake Taylor from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman and senior running back Jovantae Barnes.

Barnes, the nation’s No. 8 running back, was leaning toward Oklahoma before the news broke. Now you have to wonder how Riley’s departure will impact his decision.

What sway will this have on some of the other marquee national names either committed to OU or leaning heavily that way?

Does this push Marvin Jones Jr., the nation’s No. 1 player, more toward Florida State? Will five-star DL Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy – one of the most heavily recruited defenders in the country – stay true to his commitment? Or will SEC teams try to poach him away? Is there a chance five-star OT Josh Conerly Jr. will give USC a stronger look now? He did have OU on his short list and liked the Trojans at one point in the process.

And then there’s recent USC decommitment Devin Brown, the star quarterback from Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon. Does he become priority No. 1 at the spot for Riley, and will he want to return to the fold instead of looking at Ole Miss, Ohio State and Texas?

Impacts will be long lasting

The Riley to USC story is still so raw. We don’t officially know what impact it will have with any of the names mentioned above. But history tells us it will change things dramatically.

This is the seismic storyline that forever will alter the trajectory of the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes. It’ll also alter the national recruiting landscape unlike anything we’ve seen in recent history.

That’s because Riley’s recruiting prowess will go a long way toward helping the Trojans get back to where they want to be – winning Pac-12 titles and competing for national titles.