Lincoln Riley weighs pros, cons of transfer portal recruiting vs. high school recruiting

Lincoln Riley has mastered the art of recruiting out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, a process that he says is far less challenging than evaluating high school talent.

“It’s probably easier,” Riley said, comparing transfer recruiting to high school recruiting. “Because the majority of these guys, you have college film.”

Click here to see a full list of NCAA Transfer Portal entries. For Transfer Portal Rankings, click here.

Riley has plucked a number of high-profile players out of the NCAA Transfer Portal since his arrival at USC, but no transfer came with higher expectations than quarterback Caleb Williams, his former pupil at Oklahoma, who followed Riley from Norman to the West Coast. Williams was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and his transfer ranking was no different: Williams was not just the No. 1 quarterback in the portal, but he was also the No. 1 overall player in the portal, regardless of position. In truth, though, Williams was just the tip of the iceberg.

According to Riley himself, recruiting out of the NCAA Transfer Portal provides a unique advantage from a talent evaluation standpoint.

“I would say the projecting (of recruits) — there’s not as many variables (as high schoolers), when you’re watching college film,” Riley said. “You’re watching guys at this level. A number of guys, we’re watching them play against teams that we’ve maybe played against, that we’re familiar with. And so, I would say, the evaluation, purely on just the football part of it, is probably easier.”

Riley welcomed several other impact players from the NCAA Transfer Portal. Mario Williams, a former Oklahoma wideout and the No. 4 wide receiver in the portal, came to USC, too; also on the offensive side, Riley gained commitments from Oregon running back Travis Dye and Stanford running back Austin Jones, the No. 4 and No. 12 running backs in the NCAA Transfer Portal, respectively. And, of course, it’s worth mentioning the additions of linebacker Shane Lee, cornerback Latrell McCutchin, linebacker Romello Height, wide receiver Brenden Rice — and many, many more. In total, USC gained commitments from 13 players out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, and almost all will contribute immediately in Riley’s first year at the helm.

“High school guys, a lot of times you’re trying to weigh level of competition, what do they do schematically, it’s just — there’s a lot of different variables at that point,” Riley explained. “I would say that part (evaluation) is easier (with transfers). The toughest part is typically, unless it’s somebody that you’ve known before, had a previous relationship with, you’re getting to know somebody very, very quickly. And the timeline is so accelerated that it’s got to come together pretty quickly.”

Luckily, that part wasn’t too difficult for Riley, who had previous relationships with three of his transfers in Caleb Williams, Mario Williams and McCutchin, each of whom transferred from Oklahoma.

Overall, there’s one main advantage coupled with one disadvantage to leaning so heavily on transfer recruiting.

“It’s easier on the film,” Riley concluded. “Tougher on the relationship side.”