Lincoln Riley says USC turnaround was 'not a one-year fix'

Lincoln Riley has already delivered on his promises of getting USC back into contention during his debut season in LA. The Trojans sit at 7-1 on the season and are the ninth overall team in the initial College Football Playoff Rankings. Even with a lot still to accomplish this season, though, Riley is optimistic about what the future holds for his program.

Riley opened up about what’s next for his rebuild of USC during media on Thursday. He said this was never going to be a one-year makeover. While this season’s team still has a chance to do something special, Riley believes this offseason is a big one since it’s his first full one as USC’s head coach.

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“This was not a one-year fix in terms of where we think this can get to,” said Riley. “Now we’ve obviously got a really good football team right now that’s got some great things in front of them. As time goes on, the depth, the roster, and the talent are going to get better and better and better. And there’s going to be an evolution.”

A big piece of that evolution is recruiting. Having a full season to recruit will be major for a program that earned just 12 commitments last year. As important as the transfer portal has been for USC this season, Riley knows the future of his team will be built on the high school recruiting trail. That’s why, although they’ll be active in the portal again, Riley and the Trojans are excited for signing day and further success in recruiting.

“I think we signed seven high school players last year. We’re gonna sign in the mid-20s this year. So that alone is a big, big difference,” Riley said. “Now we’ll have some attrition on this roster like everybody does and we will be active in the portal again. I don’t imagine we’ll be quite as active as we chose to be last year. You’ll probably see something somewhere in between a normal year and what we did last year. But we feel like we’re thrilled about the high school class. We really are.”

USC’s success this season surely hasn’t hurt their chances to be successful in any way they attempt to bring players in. In fact, Riley believes that will become their biggest selling point. The staff was selling an image last season when trying to recruit players to Hollywood. Now, Riley has proven that, even on short notice, he and his staff can make a contender at USC. It’s now the decision of those considering USC to choose whether they want to be part of what he’s building there or not.

“What I think is exciting now is now I think there’s proof right now. There’s some proof of concept. Now people can see the direction. It’s not all just hype, it’s not all just talk in the offseason. They can see some real, tangible results behind it. With what we’re gonna have coming back, I think we’re gonna get a lot of calls (and) a lot of guys that are interested in coming to USC…It’ll obviously be an active time coming up and we’re ready for it.”