What’s Trending – USC vs Oregon Carrying Onto the B1G
Each day at WeAreSC, I’ll choose one to three WeAreSC message board topics and publish an article about what was discussed. We’ll either choose hot topics, ultra relevant and timely topics, but mostly topics that are almost recruiting related. There will certainly be plenty of USC football team topics as well, especially with the season starting in 18 days.
One of the hottest topics the past 10 years for USC and Oregon fans alike, are the recruiting battles both programs have had. Prior to 2019, Oregon hadn’t won a recruiting battle against the Trojans. Since 2018, Oregon’s had a higher ranked recruiting class than USC four of the last five years.
Lincoln Riley arrived in time to sign the 2022 class. That class finished ranked No. 47. Riley’s 2023 class earned a No. 8 ranking, edging out Oregon by one spot.
USC Recruiting Since 2002
Since 2002, USC has ended the recruiting process with a higher ranked class than Oregon 18 of the 22 years….per 247. On3 wasn’t around obviously.
Two of those years Oregon finished with the No. 12 ranked class and another at No. 13. USC was No. 63 and 47 those years. Another year Oregon was No. 6 and USC No. 7. Again, Clay Helton’s Trojans had a knack of making most competitors look amazing during his seven years at USC.
“It’s not that I’m worried Oregon will out recruit us . But they make it difficult to stack the deck cause they do poach us just enough. When schools like Bama and Georgia bring in Top 3 classes every single year it is going to hard to do that with an Oregon targeting most of our guys as well as all the other schools that do it.”
Disagree to a certain extent on this. If we’re talking about the combination of the high school kids plus transfers, USC will be a top 5 program annually in my opinion.
And while it’s hard to predict how another solid season will impact recruiting, it’s my opinion, and I’m sure most of yours, it will greatly impact recruiting very positively.
Without getting more aggressive with NIL, it will be challenging for USC to finish with a top three high school class, though. Definitely agree there.
Dakoda Fields Flip to Oregon
USC has suffered their second decommitment of the summer as four-star safety Dakoda Fields has announced a commitment to flip to Oregon.
Fields ranks as the No. 95 player in the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also tabs in as the No. 13 cornerback and the No. 11 player in the state of California.
Obviously this was as hot a topic as we had the past 24 hours.
“But is it really true Oregon getting these guy s because they are paying? I have never seen somebody with real sources like you saying it. Everytime USC does not get a recurit it’s the money. I just can’t believe that.
It’s definitely not always all about NIL when guys choose Oregon, but it absolutely is a big reason with several.
There’s nothing stopping schools from offering financial opportunities in 2023, except the schools stopping themselves…like USC for example.
Even Notre Dame did everything they could with an NIL offer with Kyngstonn.
I’ve heard of nothing that leads me to believe USC will change their approach to NIL, so the main way to impact recruiting significantly will be racking up victories and playing solid defense this season.
Another Flip – Peyton Woodyard
Top USC Safety target Peyton Woodyard flips to Alabama.
The good news is the season begins in 18 days. It’s gotten to the point where USC fans have had enough bad news with recruiting the last five weeks. The topic of Woodyard flipping to Alabama quickly became focused on NIL. This will be a hot topic each week.
If Dakoda wasn’t getting an NIL deal from USC, that seems like part of the problem and why would you think he’s not? Dakoda plays corner not safety, I would think corners get more than safeties.
USC simply isn’t offering high school players guaranteed NIL offers. And yes, USC is losing guys because of their approach.
The question is, will it ultimately matter as much as many believe it will? Riley seems pretty confident with his approach, but it may require filling roster holes with a decent number of transfers after this season.
If USC has another stellar season and this is still a problem a year from now, I’m thinking a tweak or two with the NIL approach should be seriously considered.
Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) will be something we can discuss for days and weeks. Once the Trojans start playing football, the focus of fans will on the season. Wins and losses will trump anything that’s happened in July or August.
This was an interesting take from mjs3goldenknights.
I’ve long held the thought that if you’re going to get into the upfront NIL guaranteed high school game, the rest of the current roster probably needs a one-time multi-million dollar bump (that is continual year after year unless you leave). Have to have a booster willing to do that, which we know Phil Knight and his buddies are.
Example is if Dakoda comes in at guaranteed 200K, the current first through third string DB’s better be at $200K+. Otherwise players are going to be looking around with some anger (I would think, do not know).
I seriously think some of these teams have an NIL annual payroll for their players that could be $15M+ (Ryan Day said $13M I believe). When most athletic departments are unprofitable, that’s pretty hard to swallow for boosters unless they are rabid fans and willing to sink money down the drain. I personally think they should just give each team and players a share of the tv revenue with no outside NIL allowed unless it’s through a vetted entity and a true marketing deal, but that’s impossible to track.
Keep on Ranting
Sorry for the long rant, but Scott do you know if some schools are still failing to follow-through on “guarantees” for kids when they arrive? I always thought that might be a positive for USC if it continued and word got out.
I am hoping USC is showing or can at least talk about the numbers our players are making from HOV. Shoot each player should have been paid $50K just to show up to one of those dinners where tables were $10K or more.
For the NIL question, I think he was asking how our recruiting would be if NIL didn’t exist at any school. I think it’s a really interesting question, even if it’s speculative. We’d obviously do better with high school recruiting and would have players like Josh Conerly and Matayo Uiagalelei on the roster, but our transfer classes might be a bit weaker. I’d love to hear your thoughts on where that’d all shake out and if you think we benefited from NIL existing, even if it’s a marginal gain compared to some other schools.
Without question USC has benefitted from NIL with transfers. But what high school kids are told about USC NIL opportunities by current players will help USC tremendously going forward.
Currently, as is no secret, USC is missing on high school targets because of the approach with NIL. Whether that’s ultimately a good or bad thing is to be determined. I know I’m more inclined to lean heavily towards preferring Riley’s approach than Jimbo’s and Mario’s. This is based off the strong team chemistry and culture that’s been developed at USC over the last 19 months.
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