Western 100: From high school recruits to transfers, new USC coach Lincoln Riley has quickly built one of top 2022 classes nationally
In the hours leading up to National Signing Day, and as this recruiting cycle nears its end, USC shook up college football — again.
This time, it was an announcement from former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams, who eventually became the Sooners’ starter midway through his true freshman season last fall, and put up impressive numbers from then on, that sent the sport buzzing.
Williams is trading the Big 12 for the Pac-12, and has signed with what has quickly evolved into the nation’s top-ranked transfer class, per 247Sports.com rankings.
The former five-star recruit from Washington D.C. — who was considered among the top 10 recruits nationally in the 2021 class by multiple outlets — has reportedly already arrived in Los Angeles, where he reunites with the coach that recruited him out of high school in Lincoln Riley.
Williams, the top-ranked player in the transfer portal ahead of the 2022 season, could make an immediate impact for a surging program looking to return to a championship-caliber standing.
Perhaps there should be an expectation going forward that USC will continue to make big splashes like this one.
With Riley leading the program, it has already made several in the past two months alone.
Considered one of the top recruiters in college football, Riley remarked during his introductory press conference in November the staff planned to “hit the ground running” on the recruiting trail, and that has clearly been the case.
USC not only has 21 players in its incoming class — including eight high school signees and 13 transfers — but some of the highest-rated prospects nationally set to join the roster.
The overall class ranks ninth nationally and tops the Pac-12 — unseating Oregon, which reigned over the conference in recruiting rankings the past three years. It features a pair of five-star talents in Williams and Mater Dei High School cornerback Domani Jackson, as well as eight four-star recruits.
When Riley was announced as USC’s next coach, he was asked how long he needed to return the program — which is five years removed from its most recent Pac-12 championship, and nearly two decades from its most recent national title — to its prominent status in college football.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum soaking in the sun in the background behind him, he smiled and glanced at the watch on his wrist.
“Well, I’ve been in L.A. for a few hours here,” he told reporters there with a laugh. “In this day and age, I think it can happen quickly. I do. I think there’s a lot of good things going on in this program right now that we can absolutely build on. I think in this day and age, with the way college football works, you can turn over rosters in so many different ways.”
Riley went on to note how USC would be “deliberate and creative and intentional” in how it is built with “the staff we’re going to bring in, the players we’re going to bring in, the leadership that we have, the support we have, again, getting our former players so involved with this program, which is incredibly important to me.”
“I just look at like, how can we not do it? You know? How’s it not going to work? No time is soon enough,” he continued. “But, we’re going to fight like crazy and take advantage of every moment.”
Given what Riley and has staff have already built, it surely doesn’t seem any moment has been wasted.
All of the transfers USC has brought in — Williams, running backs Travis Dye (previously at Oregon) and Austin Jones (Stanford), wide receivers Terrell Bynum (Washington), Brenden Rice (Colorado) and Mario Williams (Oklahoma), offensive lineman Bobby Haskins (Virginia), defensive linemen Earl Barquet (TCU) and Tyrone Taleni (Kansas State), linebackers Romello Height (Auburn) and Shane Lee (Alabama) and cornerbacks Mekhi Blackmon (Colorado) and Latrell McCutchin (Oklahoma) — have Power Five playing experience.
The program also kept the top recruit in both California and the West — per 247Sports Composite rankings — at home in Jackson, who decommitted from the class earlier in November and was reportedly considering heading to the SEC to join Alabama. USC also added two of his four-star high school teammates in running back Raleek Brown, who was previously committed to Oklahoma when Riley was there, and wide receiver C.J. Williams, a previous Notre Dame commit.
Two more of the West’s top recruits in Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) four-star defensive backs Zion Branch and Fabian Ross will also stay in the Pac-12 footprint with the Trojans.
All of USC’s four-star high school recruits are also members of The News Tribune’s 2022 Western 100 class.
Riley’s recruiting efforts haven’t stopped with the completion of this year’s class, though. USC has also landed early commitments from three five-star recruits in the 2023 class since his arrival, in Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos, Calif.) quarterback Malachi Nelson — currently considered the No. 2 player in the nation and top player in California in the class — and athlete Makai Lemon, and Bishop Gorman wide receiver Zachariah Branch.
How has Riley accomplished so much so quickly in Los Angeles? It goes back to his early success at Oklahoma.
Following more than a decade working his way up as an assistant coach at three separate programs, he took over the Sooners’ program in 2017 and during the next five seasons led Oklahoma to a 55-10 overall record, four consecutive Big 12 titles and New Years Six bowl game appearances (2017-20), and three straight trips to the College Football Playoff semifinals (2017-19).
And, naturally, the more success a program has, the more it commands the attention of top recruits year in and year out.
“Immediately he paid dividends at Oklahoma,” 247Sports.com National Recruiting Editor Brandon Huffman said. “He showed he was young, energetic, hires a good staff, he’s got a good group of evaluators with him, and kids like him. He’s got a magnetic personality.”
His programs have also developed several NFL-caliber players. The past four draft classes have included 21 players from Oklahoma, spanning every offensive and defensive position. The Sooners have produced five first-rounders in that stretch, including quarterbacks Baker Mayfield (2018) and Kyler Murray (2019) — who were both Heisman Trophy winners in Riley’s system before they were selected at No. 1 overall in their respective classes — wide receivers Marquise Brown (2019) and CeeDee Lamb (2020) and linebacker Kenneth Murray (2020).
“Players are getting drafted,” Huffman said. “It’s not just quarterbacks getting drafted, but it’s running backs, it’s offensive linemen, it’s defensive players, and those guys are making a dent all throughout the NFL.”
The chance at an NFL future is a key for many recruits in selecting college destinations — and Riley has consistently proved its possible in only five seasons as a Power Five head coach so far.
“He’s got the track record in the very short amount of time doing so,” Huffman said.
It appears the success is primed to continue on the West Coast.
Riley has already made a substantial impact in the Pac-12, and his recruiting reputation is also expected to boost the conference a whole, as programs look to compete for top talent.
“They know what Riley is going to bring to the table,” Huffman said. “So now these other schools are preparing for it as such.”
While USC has the conference’s top overall class and transfer class per 247Sports rankings, others didn’t finish too far behind, with Arizona (No. 22) and Stanford (No. 25) also among the top 25 programs nationally in the overall rankings. Defending Pac-12 champion Utah (No. 33) and runner-up Oregon (No. 32) also finished in the top 35.
Stanford has the conference’s top-ranked high school class, which is also the No. 15 class in the nation, while Arizona’s stellar incoming class is second in the conference at No. 23 in the national rankings. Utah (No. 37 nationally), Oregon (No. 43), Colorado (No. 46) and UCLA (No. 50) are in the top 50.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
