Lincoln Riley on recruiting benefit since joining Big Ten: 'I do see the interest more from the Midwest'

The USC Trojans are transitioning into the Big Ten for the 2024 season and head coach Lincoln Riley is already recruiting as a Big Ten school before the season has even started.

A national brand, USC has always had sway in recruiting across the country. However, Riley has already noticed an increase in recruits and interest from the players who come from the Midwest since the news broke that the Trojans would be on the move.

“One, it’s opening us up even more to a different area of the country,” Lincoln Riley explained at Big Ten Media Days. “Now, we are a program, and we’re fortunate that we do have a national following and are a national brand. So, I don’t know that any place has been like off limits, but at the same time I do see the interest more from the Midwest and more from the Northeast maybe even more than it was before.”

It’s not particularly surprising interest would grow in the USC from people in Big Ten country. After all, with the addition of USC to the conference, folks in the area once again took a long look at the Trojans. It also makes it so that road games for USC will be closer to some players’ homes.

“Because we’re gonna be playing some games in this part of the country,” Riley said. “Those teams are gonna be coming out to play us, and we’re gonna be on TV in a lot of these areas. You feel that a little bit more. So, I feel like that’s accelerated and the openness in those areas has certainly improved.”

Lincoln Riley signed the 18th-ranked high school recruiting class in the country in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. Within that class, seven players came from the state of California. Texas, Georgia, and Florida were also major spots for USC to pull from with multiple high school recruits from those states.

On top of that USC pulled players from places that the Trojans may not have looked in the past. That included Minnesota, Connecticut, and Michigan, showing how national the recruiting effort has been.

“Even before we’ve played a Big Ten game, you look at what we signed last year,” Riley said. “I mean, we signed guys from Minnesota. We signed guys from Michigan. We got out and did some work in those areas before a snap was even taken.”

The hope for Riley and USC is that those recruiting efforts will only continue to succeed nationally, with players from eight states already being committed to the Trojans in the 2025 cycle.