December 20th marked National Signing Day for Division I Programs across the nation.
USC had a fairly successful signing day (by their standards), bringing in a whopping 19 recruits, with 14 of them slated to enroll by January and join spring practice.
With that said, the “standard” isn’t set by USC. It’s set by their competition, and not all of those 19 recruits are top-tier.
Instead, as David Kenyon of Bleacher Report explains, USC signed just 11 blue-chip prospects, while regional competition like Oregon landed 20, and future conference opponents Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, landed 17, 17, and 18 respectively.
Even Wisconsin, Kenyon explains, was able to grab 9.
This is an issue given that USC is starting from a deficit in comparison to OSU, PSU, and Michigan to begin with, as their 7-5 season was reflective of poor personnel across key areas of the field.
It’s natural to assume that Lincoln Riley and co. will remain active in the transfer portal, bringing in as many top-tier guys as they possibly can. That said, however, it’s a steep climb to reach the tier that OSU, PSU, and Michigan are at, leading to there being little surprise that USC wound up low on the early Big Ten rankings.
As Lincoln Riley coaches in his 3rd conference in 4 years, he faces his toughest challenge. Let’s see if he can transform the Trojans into a top-tier program.