Lincoln Riley responds to tampering allegations in Jordan Addison recruitment

Just before the transfer portal entry deadline, Jordan Addison made waves by deciding to leave Pitt. After the report came out about Addison’s plans, rumors swirled about potential tampering allegations by USC and coach Lincoln Riley — and Riley responded to those allegations on Friday.

During his Pac-12 Media Days press conference, Riley denied the allegations levied by Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi. After Addison reportedly made his decision to transfer, Narduzzi alleged Riley and USC contacted the 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner about playing for the Trojans. Riley said he and his staff treated Addison like any other portal prospect.

“We’ve worked hard through our careers as coaches, my career as a coach, to do things with integrity,” Riley said. “I think we’ve largely done that throughout my career and I think if you ask people that have been around us and been in the inner workings with us, they know how we go about our business. So when someone challenges that with no facts and just only emotion, you take it personally? Absolutely you do. I understand this is an emotional time, it’s an emotional game with a lot of emotional people. We recruited Jordan just like we did every other transfer.

“Jordan got in the transfer portal, Jordan came on a visit to USC despite all the negative things that were put out magically by somebody. He’s a kid that’s all about ball. All he wanted to do on his entire official visit was talk ball. We literally missed several of the meals and other things, entertainment, that we had scheduled just so we could watch more film and talk more ball. That’s all he’s about. And I think he’s been really, really misrepresented throughout this whole thing and hopefully as this year goes on, people will get to see the quality of young man that he is. He’s done a great job for us so far. He’s a great member of this team and seems extremely happy to be in LA and playing for USC.”

A report later said Narduzzi called Riley to express his displeasure with the situation, but Riley didn’t comment on that during his press conference on Friday.

“I would never talk about a call between me and another coach, ever,” Riley said. “Whether it did or didn’t happen, that’s not ever something I would discuss.”

Addison became the No. 2 transfer to hit the portal this offseason, just behind new USC quarterback Caleb Williams, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. Last year at Pitt, Addison totaled 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns to help the Panthers to an ACC title.