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USC football picked up an encouraging victory in recruiting, beating out Missouri and SMU for a talented Class of 2026 wideout. The Trojans are coming off a very poor first season in the Big Ten with several pundits questioning if head coach Lincoln Riley is on the hot seat.
After a great first year in Southern California, Riley has struggled in the past two seasons and knows the stakes are high heading into 2025. USC football has a standard of excellence that it expects to meet next season.
One significant move is not going to be enough to right this ship; it will take several small victories in player development, recruiting, and the transfer portal.
Fortunately, Riley picked up a win in recruiting on Wednesday, securing the commitment of Kohen Brown. National Recruiting / Transfer Portal Reporter Hayes Fawcett confirmed the news. Brown is a 6'0, 180 lb wide receiver who also received offers from Ole Miss, Nebraska, and Michigan State.
USC football will be looking to rebuild at the quarterback position in 2025
Caleb Williams is no longer with USC football, and neither is last year's starter, Miller Moss. The Trojans, therefore, have a huge question mark at the sport's most important position going into next season.
Fortunately, Lincoln Riley has a track record of developing young quarterbacks into stars, and USC has a talented one who is stepping into the starting role. Junior Jayden Maiava is expected to take over under center in 2025.
A transfer from UNLV in 2024, the Honolulu native completed 59.8% of his passes for eleven touchdowns and six interceptions last season. Those may not be gaudy numbers, but at 6'4, 220 lbs, Maiava has all the tools physically to be one of the best QBs in the Big Ten.
And Lincoln Riley will need him to be elite if this team is going to achieve its lofty goals. The Trojans open up the season with a few light matchups before getting into the meat of their Big Ten schedule.
The hardest part of the schedule comes in the middle of the season with a three-game gauntlet. USC football first will visit Champaign to take an Illinois team that will be preseason ranked in the top 20. The Trojans will then host Michigan before traveling to South Bend to take on a Notre Dame team coming off a National Championship game appearance.
On the back half, there is also a trip to Eugene to take on the Oregon Ducks. So long as it's in the Big Ten, USC football will never have an easy schedule.
But this road brings with it plenty of opportunities for this program and its coach to prove that they can elevate themselves back into relevance. USC football should be contending for a spot in the twelve-team College Football Playoff on an annual basis. It's time for Lincoln Riley to make that expectation a reality.
