My Take on 5-Star USC QB Commit Julian “JuJu” Lewis

We’ve been hearing about the inevitable Julian “JuJu” Lewis decommitment since the day after he verbally committed to USC on August 2, 2023.

At first it was Georgia was too big of a monster and too close to home for Lewis to pass up, then Alabama became the top competition for Lincoln Riley and now it’s Auburn…and maybe Colorado. Next week will it be Florida State?

Every week we read a new article with a different slant on why Lewis may not ultimately not end up at USC. And he may not for all we know. Basically each article makes the same claim, sometimes daily, that Lewis is still looking and keeping his options open.

Considering he has four official visits scheduled and only one can be USC, of course he’s still looking and naturally those schools still all have a shot. At least until he shuts down his recruitment prior to the season.

Come July or August, before Carrollton’s season begins, Lewis has repeatedly said he’ll shut down his recruitment. At that time he may decide he prefers staying closer to home and feels more comfortable in a smaller city.

Athens, Auburn, Tuscaloosa and even Boulder are far different than Los Angeles. But the opportunities in L.A. and playing for Riley are also uniquely different than what’s offered at those other programs. That’s what drew Lewis to USC in the first place.

Hard to argue he’ll get better coaching elsewhere with Riley’s history of developing quarterbacks. He’s coached three Heisman Trophy winners in Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams.

Williams will be the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Riley also played a vital role in Jalen Hurts becoming a second-round NFL draft Pick. Those are just facts, not an opinion offered by me.

Legit and not so legit concerns

At one time an alleged concern of Lewis and his family was whether USC could attract the talent needed to win a national championship.

Now that the Trojans have gained commitments from two more five-star caliber players from Georgia, with a shot any adding more, a new concern may be whether USC has the funding to keep a collection of elite players on the roster.

The concerns are all valid, but ultimately there are issues that’ll certainly arise at every program.

Why would USC be the only program potentially unable to fund a roster full of five-stars? If we really want to make an outrageous claim, we could say Georgia hasn’t won a national championship without former 5-Star DT Bear Alexander. We don’t actually believe that’s why, but it’s as legit as the claims USC can’t ever compete for a national championship.

What if Kirby Smart and company lose another five-star in the upcoming weeks? The quick reply is he’ll just replace him with another five-star. But what if they lose him to the University of Southern California? is that what it’ll take to change the narrative a bit? Let’s not forget it wasn’t that long ago when Georgia hadn’t won a National Championship in 41 years.

Alabama was a complete disaster prior to Nick Saban’s arrival in 2007. Michigan’s last National Championship prior to 2023 was 1997. That’s a 26 year drought. Just offering y’all some perspective folks.

Elite programs get their start by adding elite coaches and funding their programs adequately. USC has that in place for the first time since about 2008. Riley has the most complete staff he’s had since he took over as head coach at Oklahoma eight years ago.

Can Riley get the Trojans back to competing for national championships? None of us actually know that for sure, but Riley took three of his Oklahoma teams to the playoffs and nearly got USC there in 2022. And did all that without a defense.

I began covering USC when Pete Carroll was hired. It was obvious the impact Carroll had on the program year one, despite a 6-6 record. The Trojans lost those six games by a combined 30 something points. The following year they finished 11-2 and won the 2002 Orange Bowl. In 2003 and 2004 the Trojans won National Titles and barely lost a third to Texas in heartbreaking fashion.

So, I know what a national championship caliber team looks like and plays like. We’ll have a very good idea in December which direction Riley’s program is headed regardless of the record.

There’s no doubt Riley and staff plan on competing for a playoff spot this season, but the question remains whether he’ll have the roster to do that. We may have a far better idea in the coming weeks with the transfer portal opening on Tuesday (4/16).

If it’s not JuJu Lewis

If JuJu Lewis does end up at another school, USC has an extremely talented quarterback they’ll likely go all in with. Although Husan Longstreet is committed to Texas A&M, like Lewis, the opportunity to play for Riley is extremely enticing. If he had been the quarterback Riley pursued instead of Lewis, Longstreet would likely be the committed USC QB prospect.

Longstreet is currently ranked one spot behind Lewis and he’s a local kid. There won’t be any issues with USC being too far from him from an elite player from Corona Centennial. We should add Longstreet hasn’t told me he’d flip his commitment or anything like that, but we know how he feels about Riley.

The fact Longstreet showed up for a 5:30am practice last Tuesday spoke volumes to me. That said, JuJu Lewis is Riley’s guy until Lewis decides Riley’s not his guy. And we want to be clear in this too, Lewis and his family love Riley.

With official visit season nearly two months away, there’s likely no need for USC fans to sit on pins and needles every time there’s an article written about Lewis. He’ll take his USC official visit June 7-9.

USC defensive staff

While I fully understand D’Anton Lynn has only spent one year of his career as a defensive coordinator, he absolutely performed magic with the UCLA defense in 2023. The Bruins were ranked around No. 100 defensively in 2022 and finished among the top 15 teams in 2023.

Yes, we definitely know UCLA didn’t face Washington or Oregon last season, but that’s still a remarkable turnaround. We also learned Lynn was considered among the hottest rising stars in the coaching profession among his peers. Now we’ll see what he can do with a complete overhauled USC defensive staff.

Among the coaches added to the USC staff were former L.A. Rams DL coach Eric Henderson, former South Dakota St. head coach Matt Entz and Doug Belk. The Trojans kept highly regarded DL coach Shaun Nua. On the surface, that is an elite coaching staff. They are also dawgs when it comes to recruiting, especially Henderson.

Now we’ll just wait and see how the season plays out this fall. How the Trojans fare will almost certainly dictate how well they close with the recruiting.

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