USC and Lincoln Riley are giving us reason to believe the Trojans can still reach greatness

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. 

“They,” in this scenario, isn’t an organized crime family. It’s Lincoln Riley and USC.

Nobody thought more of USC’s move to hire Riley away from Oklahoma in November, 2021. At the time, it really did seem like the Trojans, still in the Pac-12, were primed to rise up again and become the West Coast power we all remember from the early 2000s. 

After firing Clay Helton, there were no obvious, slam-dunk candidates. So USC went out, opened its checkbook and landed one of the hottest young coaches in the country from Oklahoma, a destination job for most other coaches. Nobody even considered Riley being an option. USC just went out and took him. From there, Riley was supposed to leave Middle America for the West Coast, run a high-flying offense, bring in the best quarterbacks in the country, own California in recruiting and run over an overmatched Pac-12. 

Three years later, it has been nothing but disappointment. Coming into the season, it felt like it never was going to happen, that USC would never reach its program ceiling under Riley’s leadership. USC was losing football games because its defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed and Riley never gained the footing in recruiting that seemed like a layup bet the day he was hired.

But here I am now, on a random Wednesday afternoon in September of 2024, believing again. The Trojans have pulled me back in.

Why?

First, USC has started this season 2-0 with a win over LSU and a shutout — yes, shutout — victory over Utah State. Last year, USC couldn’t shut out a middle school team. The Trojans now head into a week four game at Michigan as 5.5-point favorites, which has to do with a much-improved defense under first-year defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn coupled with Michigan’s quarterback problem.

Secondly, USC made a splash in recruiting Wednesday. Five-star receiver Jerome Myles of Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon, the No. 26 overall player and the No. 5 receiver in the 2025 class in the On3 Industry Ranking, committed to USC. Myles, who also had offers from Utah, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, Georgia and just about everyone else, sees the vision. 

There are a lot of good things happening in Los Angeles, things that feel differently than the first two years of the Riley era.

A month ago, I was fixated on how Riley’s stubbornness sticking with the wrong defensive coordinator too long cost USC a chance at winning anything with Caleb Williams as the quarterback. A month ago, I would have gone on a long rant about how it’s inexcusable how USC has failed to make the appropriate connections with the talent in Southern California.

Now, instead of bemoaning the past, it’s easier to think about the future, both on the field and in the realm of talent accumulation.

Riley still has a long way to go in recruiting. He has failed in that realm and there is no nicer way to say it. USC’s recruiting ceiling — especially when it is locked in on in-state talent — is much higher than No. 10 nationally, where the Trojans currently rank in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. It still feels bizarre celebrating USC cracking the top-10 in the recruiting race when I legitimately thought the Trojans would be a worthy adversary for teams like Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State.

Fourteen of the top 15 players in the state of California in the 2025 cycle have already issued commitments. Only one of those players — four-star linebacker Matai Tagoa’i of San Clemente (Calif.) High — has picked the Trojans. That isn’t just a trend this year. That has been the entire Riley era and it has to change. That just isn’t going to cut it for Riley, especially in a world where reports indicate he’s making north of $10 million annually.

But if Riley deserves all of the flack in the world for holding onto Alex Grinch for a year (or two) too long, then he also deserves credit for hiring Lynn away from a cross-town rival to fix his defense. If Riley deserves grief for whiffing (or not recruiting) in-state talent well, then he also deserves credit for landing a five-star national prospect with offers from every big-time school in the country.

What if this is just the beginning of Riley figuring it out? Dare to dream.

A lot can still happen on the field this year. USC could lose to Michigan on Saturday and many of us — especially me – will be foolish for taking the bait. But what if USC wins? What if Miller Moss is the next great Trojans quarterback? With that stable of offensive skill talent and Riley’s track record of developing quarterbacks, that’s definitely on the table.

Think about how good we’ll fell about this USC team with a win over Michigan. The Trojans don’t have to play Ohio State or Oregon in the regular season and an end-of-the-year matchup with Notre Dame all of a sudden doesn’t feel as difficult. In the 12-team College Football Playoff era, the Trojans may actually make it in a year many left them out of their preseason Top-25s.

What if this commitment from Myles sparks a recruiting run that helps the Trojans finally catch fire with high school prospects? There is no doubt that Riley can recruit quarterbacks and receivers, but what if more big-time defensive players and linemen — on both sides of the ball — see five-star prospects joining the class, Lynn’s defense production and USC becoming West Coast cool again?

There is a path for USC actually becoming something other than the butt of a joke.

There is still a long way to go, but that isn’t something I would have felt confident saying a month ago. USC is giving us something worth paying attention to again.