Lincoln Riley says he and his staff will be doing "a lot" of recruiting over the next few weeks

Lincoln Riley was introduced as USC‘s head coach on Monday, and he said he and his staff have already started working to get top recruits to commit to the Trojans.

“I think we will have a lot of opportunities to bring the very best here to USC,” Riley said. “That’s already started. We’re just doing the press conference, and it’s already started.”

Riley was hired Sunday in a shocking move, leaving the great plains of Oklahoma for the sandy beaches of Southern California.

He isn’t the only one to be leaving either. Former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons are all joining Riley.

But they won’t spend too much time early on getting to know their new homes. There is only a little more than two weeks until the early signing period opens Dec. 15, and Riley and his staff will be grinding away during that time.

“We are going to do a lot of (recruiting),” Riley said with a chuckle.

USC has only eight commits in its 2022 recruiting class, which ranks No. 37 in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking.

Oklahoma was ranked No. 6 before he left the program Sunday.

The 38-year-old coach was asked how he would convinced players to come to a program that has struggled over the past decade. Riley looked back towards the Los Angeles skyline, laughing and saying that’s not a bad place to start a recruiting pitch.

He then talked about his recruitment as a coach from USC administration, saying he felt like a recruit during those conversations.

“When you see the commitment that exists in this university from the leadership on down, when you see the setting, when you see the history, when you see the desire that the people have here and now us to take this place to where we all feel like it should be, I think we will have a lot of opportunities to bring the very best here to USC,” Riley said.