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Last week, the USC football team picked up a commitment from five-star tight end Mark Bowman. That was the before the calendar turned to June, and yet it was the 27th commitment that the Trojans have landed in the 2026 recruiting class. USC is on another level right now as it has far and away the best recruiting class in the country, and more commitments are likely on the way.
So, what changed? The USC football team has always recruited well, but never like this. The Trojans are on a different level right now, and NIL support is a big reason why.
“We were very behind,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said, according to an article from On3. “There’s no other way to put it. The belief and excitement around this program, for all those who support us, is high right now. The more we’ve built and have had some of the success that we did early, it’s just created belief and momentum. It’s giving validity to what we’re trying to do. And then all of a sudden, more people want to support it. More people want to come to work here. More recruits want to come here because they see what’s happening, and they see that USC is really taking this seriously. This is not one of those things where it’s a bunch of hollow promises, and things aren’t being followed through. It’s important to this university right now.”
While the Trojans were behind other big college football programs, they were still in a good spot compared to other schools. Still, USC is expected to compete with the best of the best, and the program is starting to feel like it can accomplish that.
“Compared to when we started, there is a lot of difference,” Riley said. “There was not a whole lot here at that point. We had to do a lot of work to build, not just to get it going, but to try to build an infrastructure to educate our fans, our donors, people around this program that care about it, and why this was important.”
Lincoln Riley is well aware of the lofty expectations at USC, and he knows that his team hasn't been good enough in recent years. He and the rest of the staff are constantly working to put the program in the best position possible.
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“It can never come together soon enough,” he added. “I know our expectations as a staff and at this place are as high as they get. You’re just trying to push things along as much as possible. At that point, I was confident and excited about some of the changes that we had made and some of the progress that we had made. They’re still going to continually be decisions that we have to make, moves that we have to make to continue to elevate this program.
While no progress has been made on the actual football team, this USC team still feels like things are moving in the right direction.
“Every step right now feels good,” Riley said. “You feel the progress within the walls right now, the ability to be able to go out. The progress has put us back in a position where we feel like we can have an opportunity to bring in the very best into our program, whether it’s staff members, whether it’s recruits. You go into this recruiting cycle, and you feel like you got a shot to go add the very best people in the business, the people that are going to help propel USC forward.”
Lincoln Riley and the rest of the USC football team are feeling good, but they know that there is still a lot of work to be done.
“I don’t know if comfortable is the right word,” Riley admitted. “I know we’re making progress. I know it, and I feel it and I see it. I’ve compared it — when we got here, it’s like you’re looking up at a dam and there’s leaks everywhere. You’re just constantly trying to fix things and plug leaks over and over. That’s all you have time for. I’m not saying it’s perfect right now, but there are not nearly as many leaks. We’re gaining ground and building momentum.”
Recruiting at this level is huge for the USC football team, and it is certainly a good sign for the future. However, it means nothing unless the Trojans can actually start putting it together on the gridiron.
