USC HC Lincoln Riley to watch five Trojans commits in Georgia
USC is idle this week after opening the year with wins over LSU and Utah State, so Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley has hit the road to watch a pair of Georgia high school football games featuring a handful of Southern Cal commits.
Riley and defensive backs coach Doug Belk are at Carrollton High School first this evening as the Trojans take on Gainesville. According to WeAreSC‘s Scott Schrader, the two coaches will leave at halftime to watch Douglas County vs. Buford.
Five USC commits are spread between those four schools. At Carrollton, five-star quarterback Julian Lewis and three-star cornerback Shamar Arnoux are pledged to SC. Gainesville features elite junior linebacker commit Xavier Griffin, four-star senior linebacker Jadon Perlotte plays for Buford and Douglas County wide receiver James Johnson committed to USC just two weeks ago.
Lewis is the nation’s No. 23 overall prospect, No. 4 quarterback and No. 4 recruit from Georgia in the 2025 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking — a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
He has been committed to USC since Aug. 22 last year — when he was still a member of the 2026 recruiting class. Lewis chose to reclassify to the class of 2025 last winter.
Carrollton teammate Shamar Arnoux joined the class in late June.
On the flip side of the ball tonight, Gainesville junior linebacker Xavier Griffin is the No. 22 overall prospect and No. 2 linebacker in the 2026 class. He committed to USC on July 27 when he visited Los Angeles for the Trojans’ end-of-June recruiting event.
Buford’s Jadon Perlotte flipped from the in-state Georgia Bulldogs on July 30.