Lincoln Riley shares how defensive staff moves changed his message to recruits

Something had to give, both for the sake of their play on the field as well as their recruiting pitch, when it came to the defense at USC. With the hires and changes that they’ve since made on their staff, though, Lincoln Riley believes they’ve shown many, specifically potential recruits, that they mean business on that side of the football.

Riley spoke about the impact of the Trojans’ new defensive staff on the recruiting trail during his press conference on National Signing Day. He does feel like it has made a difference, especially since the people in their building can already sense a shift themselves.

“This entire stretch has felt – not completely because, obviously, there’s a lot of parts of the program that are healthy, doing well, and continuing to rise. But, certainly, with all the changes defensively? There’s a part of me that has felt that way,” said Riley. “A lot of it is brand new. In some ways, it’s certainly, in some ways, a lot of way, starting over. But there’s a lot of excitement with that.”

Again, there’s a reason that Alex Grinch and USC are no longer together. The Trojans needed to overhaul their defense and, as such, hired D’Anton Lynn as their next defensive coordinator.

With him, along with some other new members of the staff, Riley can’t believe his program’s fortune. It’s already paying off too considering how prospects are already reacting to those respected hires.

“I think you could see, with some of the prospects that committed to us later in this process? Guys that were committed to play for some pretty good schools, guys that we were in competition with with some really good schools? Guys see what D’Anton has done. They see what Matt Entz has done, they see what Doug (Belk) has done,” said Riley. “I think, for a lot of people, you can lay out a vision. But when you start to add people that are clearly at the top of their game? And some of the best coaches in the country? It sends a message to people, it sends a message to recruits.”

“To think when we started looking at this defensive staff that we’d be able to add three guys of that caliber with where they’re at in their careers? All on the same staff? It probably would have seemed like a little bit of a pipe dream, honestly,” Riley said. “Now, they’re here and I think it sends a message to so many people.”

Defenses on Riley’s teams have given up an average of 28.5 points per game for usual finishes outside the Top-60. His two seasons have been specifically bad with the No. 94 unit in 2022 that gave up 29.2 points per game and the worst of the seven in 2023 that finished 125th nationally by allowing 34.9 points per game.

Now, with Lynn taking over, Riley is doing what he can to right that aspect of his ship. It seems to be working too based on the energy that they have received from players that they want to be future Trojans.

“They see what we’re building, they believe in it. They know they can come be a big part of it. You’ve seen the recruits follow,” said Riley. “There has been great response from the guys in this class.”

“Looking forward at the future classes? People take notice. That’s exciting,” Riley said. “You see the belief and now it’s time to go put it into action.