Lincoln Riley reveals plan to utilize transfer portal this spring at USC

After a successful run as Oklahoma‘s head coach, Lincoln Riley is now living in Los Angeles and leading the USC football program. Taking over a prestigious program that hasn’t been as successful as of late, there’s high expectations for Riley to get the Trojans back on track in 2022.

While Riley has been able to put together a top-tier coaching staff and land some big-name transfers, highlighted by star quarterback Caleb Williams, the head coach is still working on his roster management with spring practice officially underway.

Joining USC’s Trojans Live show on Tuesday, Riley was asked about the current makeup of his roster and discussed how he will utilize the NCAA Transfer Portal to bring in some more players ahead of the upcoming season’s start.

“We’ll definitely evaluate – there’s no question about it,” Riley said. “There’ll continue to be a lot of movement. The way that we’re positioned right now, we will take a large number of transfers again after spring. That’s just kind of where our roster’s at. We’ve got a lot of flexibility at this point, and I think we’ve got a product as evident by some of the quality guys that came in here in this first cycle.

“We’ve got a place that a lot of people are excited about playing football and going to school at.”

Riley – a 38-year-old head coach who went 55-10 overall in five seasons at Oklahoma from 2017-2021 – reportedly agreed to a contract with USC that will pay him nearly $110 million over the course of the deal. He recently purchased a $17.2 million property on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles.

USC, which is coming off a 4-8 season in 2021, is scheduled to open the Lincoln Riley era on Saturday, Sept. 3 against Rice at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.