{"id":67209,"date":"2024-08-23T03:39:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T08:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=67209"},"modified":"2024-08-23T03:39:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T08:39:35","slug":"lincoln-riley-on-uscs-nil-in-recruiting-you-dont-want-to-be-going-to-a-gun-fight-with-a-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/lincoln-riley-on-uscs-nil-in-recruiting-you-dont-want-to-be-going-to-a-gun-fight-with-a-knife\/","title":{"rendered":"Lincoln Riley on USC\u2019s NIL in recruiting: \u2018You don\u2019t want to be going to a gun fight with a knife\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Lincoln Riley<\/a><\/strong> took over at USC<\/a><\/strong> in 2022, he leaned heavily on the transfer portal<\/strong><\/a> to build the roster. The Trojans landed 19 players out of the portal that year, compared to 11 on the high school<\/a><\/strong> trail.<\/p>\n

As he gets ready for Year 3, Riley is emphasizing high school recruiting \u2013 and NIL<\/a><\/strong> is a big reason for that. He said it\u2019s allowing him and the staff to make a stronger pursuit at top high school targets.<\/p>\n

Riley reiterated what he told On3\u2019s Pete Nakos<\/a><\/strong> at Big Ten Media Days about USC\u2019s \u201cimproved<\/a><\/strong>\u201d NIL operation. He specifically cited the USC-focused NIL collective<\/a><\/strong>, House of Victory<\/a><\/strong>, as part of those efforts, which are helping the Trojans become the program Riley envisioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked a lot about our NIL and how it\u2019s evolved,\u201d Riley told reporters Thursday<\/a>. \u201cCertainly, we\u2019re able to be more aggressive with high school guys than we\u2019ve ever been with it. And a lot of that\u2019s because our NIL has gotten a whole lot better. House of Victory and all those have done a phenomenal job.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to be going to a gun fight with a knife. In the beginning, we were going to a gun fight with, like, a toy sword. We\u2019ve made a lot of progress. Those folks have done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Lincoln Riley, USC are shifting recruiting strategy<\/h2>\n

When Lincoln Riley took over in 2022, he brought in 11 players from the high school recruiting trail. A year later, that number jumped to 22 signees. USC\u2019s incoming freshman class consists of 23 players from the 2024 cycle \u2013 a group that ranked No. 18 in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the future, USC has 17 commitments from the 2025 cycle, headlined by five-star quarterback Julian Lewis<\/a><\/strong>. The Carrollton<\/a> (Ga.)<\/strong> product is the No. 23 overall player in the class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking<\/a><\/strong>, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The Trojans currently sit at No. 16 in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking.<\/p>\n

But Riley said his plan with recruiting isn\u2019t just shifting away from the portal and toward high school. It\u2019s also about being more tactful in determining which players to target \u2013 not to mention building relationships along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think some of it, too, our strategy \u2026 how many high school guys we\u2019re taking, who we\u2019re taking, what we\u2019re targeting has changed drastically,\u201d Riley said. \u201cWe have really shifted \u2013 as I\u2019ve told you we were going to \u2013 we\u2019ve really shifted not completely away from the portal. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever be completely away from it. You can just look at the numbers. We\u2019re headed to becoming the developmental program that we want to be long-term for the next 10 or 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that, there\u2019s been more high school recruiting. There\u2019s gonna continue to be more. The high school recruiting takes longer. It\u2019s not as fast and furious as portal recruiting. A lot of times, you\u2019ve got to have relationships that are developed for multiple years. Having some of the consistency that we\u2019ve had on certain parts of our staff for a long time now makes a difference on that, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riley promised the push toward development from the high school recruiting trail would continue. As it does, further improvements to USC\u2019s NIL operation will have an even bigger impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s become a bigger part of what we\u2019re doing each and every year here. And that\u2019s gonna continue to happen,\u201d Riley said. \u201cObviously, as long as our NIL continues to climb, we\u2019ll continue to be as aggressive there as we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Lincoln Riley on USC\u2019s NIL in recruiting: \u2018You don\u2019t want to be going to a gun fight with a knife\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Lincoln Riley took over at USC in 2022, he leaned heavily on the transfer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67231,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67209\/revisions\/67231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}