After nine days of chaos and uncertainty in which 19 of his players left USC to enter the transfer portal, Lincoln Riley on Wednesday longed for a time, not so long ago, when the process of building a college football team was less opaque. were equally awarded 85 grants, relationships were forged in living rooms and decisions were made with more than just money in mind.
But now, Riley lamented, that was long gone. In its place was a cooler, more professional model, with much less clarity for all parties involved. College football, he said, was now “more of a business than ever before.”
“I don’t think any of us could have predicted how quickly it’s changed, how fundamentally it’s changed,” Riley said. “I think the entire college football world is trying to adapt right now, which honestly is a little hard for everyone to keep up with.”
That world had never felt so far away at USC as it did last week, when former top prospects in whose living rooms the coach once sat left en masse for the transfer portal. Among them were two five-star receivers in Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson, both of whom were seen as two of the coach’s biggest recruiting wins at USC, as well as Branch’s older brother, Zion, himself a top-60 recruit in the class of 2022.
Read more: UCLA and USC football transfer portal tracker: Who’s in and who’s leaving?
That departure unleashed a barrage of criticism against Riley, who has now lost nine of the 12 top-100 recruits he signed in the 2022 and 2023 classes, including all four five-star recruits he signed.
“Are we adapting? Sure,” Riley said. “Are some of the decisions we made a few years ago – would we have made them in this current climate? No, we definitely would have done different things.”
For Riley, there was a clear explanation for the exodus. Many of the portal decisions made over the past week, Riley suggested Wednesday, largely came down to money. And it wasn’t just players making “business decisions” either.
“There’s a financial component to every decision we make,” Riley said, “and every decision a player makes.”
And those decisions influence other decisions.
“Now you’re paying too much for the wrong person,” Riley said, “it affects everyone on the roster.”
To determine their approach, USC staff met in the offseason with consultants from the NFL, as well as “business people,” to better understand how best to allocate the budget. They opted for a system that ties cap percentage values to certain positions, with the intention of navigating a market that is constantly in flux, with limited transparency about how many players are actually offered at other schools.
After that, Riley said, determining a player’s value “must go back to production for the USC football program.”
But how Riley quantifies that production remains unclear. Four of the 10 offensive players who received the most snaps in USC’s offense this season have since entered the portal, including three of the Trojans’ five highest-producing receivers.
“Everyone has to determine what they value – certain positions, certain people. That’s just the nature of it. The NFL has been doing it forever. You see the discussion about how much to pay a starting quarterback in the NFL. How much is a running back worth? How much is a receiver worth? If a guy has this kind of production, what percentage of a salary cap is he entitled to? Or does it make sense that the program can give them something? It’s very cut and dry. It is very production-oriented.”
Still, the results of USC’s approach this week have caused panic among an already frustrated Trojan fan base. As potential transfer options have come and gone without any strings attached, fans’ impatience has only increased with each passing day on the portal. So far, the Trojans have signed just two transfers — San Jose State cornerback DJ Harvey and New Mexico running back Eli Sanders — while many transfer targets are committed elsewhere.
However, Riley insists he is not impressed with the results so far.
Read more: The Times of Troy: Five thoughts on USC’s first week out of the transfer portal
“I’ve learned not to really put emotions into it,” Riley said. “I don’t get too high or too low when good news comes across my desk, or when bad news comes across my desk. I think my job is to remain steadfast and committed to the vision.”
Hanson gets help
It had been a whirlwind few weeks for Zach Hanson, with a new baby at home and the transfer portal at work, when Riley called the Trojans’ coach into the office. Josh Henson had just left to become offensive coordinator at Purdue, and Hanson, Riley told him, was who he wanted to replace him.
Riley took less than 24 hours to decide on his new offensive line coach. And it took Hanson even less time to decide.
“It took me about two seconds,” Hanson said.
Hanson, who played offensive tackle at Kansas State, spent most of his career prior to USC coaching offensive lines, not tight ends. The transition, he said, would return him to the role that “comes most naturally to me.”
He would inherit a line that was expected to replace three starters before an unexpected decision was made this week.
Guard Emmanuel Pregnon had already committed to play in the Shrine Bowl next month, an indication he would likely declare for the NFL. But the Trojans’ most consistent lineman had a change of heart.
Hanson also doesn’t have to worry about his left tackle leaving. In light of Henson’s departure, sophomore Elijah Paige was asked if he had any doubts about his commitment to stay at USC at all.
“Not at all,” Paige said.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
