Urban Meyer explains why USC, UCLA additions add recruiting value to Big Ten

In two years, California will be a Big Ten state with USC and UCLA joining the party. That’s a good thing for recruiting, according to Urban Meyer — who had to recruit against one of the best USC coaches in the last 20 years.

When Meyer was trying to recruit in California, Pete Carroll was coaching USC. That made it tough to get some of the best players in the state. However, it also helped him see there’s plenty of talent there, and the Big Ten has a good chance to tap into that well.

“When Pete Carroll was at USC — I believe I was at Florida — you didn’t go to California,” Meyer, now a Big Ten Network analyst, told Dave Revsine on BTN Thursday night. “You’re wasting your time. It’s a lot of travel. You’re not going to go in there and beat Pete Carroll. The one thing about California, there’s an abundance of players. Their twos and threes are ones in every other state. You didn’t go in there.

“But right now, I just think because of the way air travel is, you can go travel anywhere. I see this being an opportunity for — I’m telling you, Wisconsin’s going to go in there. There are so many football players in California to fall over them.”

Urban Meyer: USC, UCLA, Ohio State and Michigan coaches could get into recruiting ‘street fight’ in Big Ten

He also made a good point about the coaches who’ll be fighting for that talent. With Lincoln Riley and Chip Kelly entering the Big Ten, that could wind up being must-see TV.

“You’re going to see the street fight between Lincoln Riley, Chip Kelly, Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh,” said Meyer, who had plenty of recruiting success in the Big Ten. “I’ll tell you, I can’t wait to watch it because this is a new era, man. This is really intriguing. When I saw the news come across, I got a couple calls today, I thought, ‘Man. It actually makes sense. It really does.’”

Ohio State and Michigan were in the top four of the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking for the class of 2022, and the Buckeyes have the top class from the class of 2023, as well. USC, meanwhile, has the No. 7 class for next year — Lincoln Riley’s first full recruiting cycle as head coach and the Trojans’ last group before heading to the Big Ten.