Mark Sanchez: 'The playing field's even' at USC again

Former New York Jets and USC Trojans quarterback Mark Sanchez joined The Herd with Colin Cowherd to discuss how Lincoln Riley is navigating the age of NIL and the transfer portal in its infancy, noting that he’s a players coach that young athletes want to learn under.

“That dude, he’s awesome,” Sanchez said about Riley. “He’s got some juice to him. He’s got a magnetic personality, you want to learn from him, you want to listen to him. Guys gravitate to him and it’s obvious. But it’s just nice that the playing field’s even. You can go compete with these SEC schools, and now we’re on par with them.”

In 2008 under Sanchez’s guidance, USC went on to compile a 12-1 record and a No. 2 finish in that year’s Coaches Poll. He finished the season with 3,207 passing yards and 34 touchdown passes, the second most in Trojans history behind Matt Leinart. USC defeated Penn State in the Rose Bowl 38-24, where Sanchez was named MVP of the game after he threw for 413 passing yards against the Nittany Lions, the second highest mark in the history of the Rose Bowl and fourth most in Trojans history.

Sanchez played during a time where if you were caught being compensated, you were kicked out of school and your career would take a tumble. Now, current USC quarterback Caleb Williams is allowed to profit off his likeness, and is benefitting greatly from a collection of local and national deals with major brands.

A young, successful coach like Riley joining a major market town like Los Angeles was a home run hire for the Trojans, and established college football superstars are flocking to the west coast to play under him.

Most recently, Pitt transfer Jordan Addison was reportedly offered a massive NIL deal by a LA-based company if he were to commit to Riley and the Trojans, but the Panthers football program has accused USC of tampering with a player not yet in the transfer portal. As of this writing Addison remains in the portal, but is rumored to have USC in his top choices.

Having superstars like Williams and Addison flocking to the Pac 12 instead of the SEC, which is best known for their members’ dominance of weekly top 25 national rankings and annually bring in the nation’s top high school recruits, is a feather in the cap of Riley, who is in the process of completely remodeling the Trojans program from the inside out.