Lincoln Riley on recruiting upon coming to USC: 'The pieces were not in place to recruit like we're recruiting'

Lincoln Riley and USC have the top 2026 recruiting class in the country right now, and it isn’t all that close. The Trojans have a serious haul, highlighted by two five-star prospects and 20 four-star recruits.

It’s a far cry from the 15th (2025), 18th (2024) and 9th (2023) rated classes that Riley previously produced. So how has it happened?

“I think, honestly, I just think it’s an evolution,” Riley said. “I think we’re at a point now where we can recruit like that. I don’t know, I don’t believe that strategy with given all the factors we’ve talked about for a long time — I’m not going to rehash them all — I don’t believe that strategy would have worked very well in the beginning.”

The twin anchors to USC’s class are five-star tight end Mark Bowman and five-star offensive tackle Keenyi Pope. Both players rank among the top 25 prospects in the country.

So what got them interested in USC? One is local, while the other hails from IMG Academy across the country in Bradenton, Fla.

“It wasn’t — the pieces were not in place to recruit like we’re recruiting now,” Riley said. “So that’s why all this work has been done, investments have been made in a lot of different areas. And I think people have seen proof. And now it just goes.”

USC’s alignment in vision from the top down is paying dividends. Riley frequently references athletics director Jen Cohen for the support she has provided.

And the infrastructure certainly seems to be in place to sustain things at a high level for the program. That’s the hope for USC.

“Yeah, it’s fun to be at a point where you’re doing it the way that you want to do it, but more importantly, that we’re equipped to do that,” Riley said. “That we have the tools to get that done. I think this is just the beginning, and like any part of our program, we expect that to continue to grow and get better as well.”