The first two years of the Lincoln Riley era at USC featured modest success on the high school recruiting trail, but the Trojans’ fortunes may be beginning to turn. Following a remarkable weekend in which they landed three commitments from top-100 prospects, the Trojans skyrocketed up the 2025 recruiting rankings from No. 54 to No. 11 nationally, joining college football’s elites in the talent acquisition race.
Five-star defensive lineman Justus Terry, who ranks No. 13 overall in the 2025 class and No. 2 at his position, flipped his commitment from Georgia to USC to get the ball rolling for Riley and his staff. Four-star prospect Isaiah Gibson, the class’ top-ranked edge rusher, followed in pledging to the Trojans, and four-star safety Hylton Stubbs rounded out the top-100 haul. Three-star defensive lineman Gus Cordova also joined the fold.
“We’ve been calling for this,” national recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna said on the 247Sports Football Recruiting Podcast. “We’ve been calling for Lincoln Riley to say, ‘Hey, let’s get invested in recruiting.’ And not only transfer portal recruiting, but recruiting to the point of attack.”
USC’s offense under Riley’s tutelage has thus far been one of the country’s most explosive and high-scoring units. The defensive side of the ball, though, lagged far behind and prevented the Trojans from cementing themselves as a College Football Playoff contender. With last weekend’s haul of elite defensive talent, though, perhaps the program could turn a corner.
“USC’s figuring it out,” said director of scouting Andrew Ivins. “And they need to do this as they move into the Big Ten. It’s a line-of-scrimmage league. I think Justus Terry, in the middle, is going to be able to free some things up for them. This is the type of guy they need to get, because they’re not on the West Coast.”
The Trojans now boast a pair of five-star commits in Terry and No. 4 quarterback prospect Julian Lewis, and Gibson could be on his way to a fifth star, too. With nearly eight months remaining until the early signing period, though, Riley and company must play defense themselves to prevent poachers from signing their commits.
“This is going to be an incredibly difficult task for USC,” said Petagna. “They should get a ton of credit. But at the end of the day, where these guys sign ultimately is what you’re going to be judged by, and this is going to be extremely challenging for USC to almost pull off like an Ocean’s Eleven-type heist in the state of Georgia.”
The recruiting surge in Los Angeles coincides with Riley touting USC’s name, image and likeness efforts and crediting the Trojans’ NIL collective and fanbase for making significant leaps in the ever-important financial realm.
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“NIL has taken some monster leaps in the last several months, which has been positive,” Riley said. “I think for everybody, our fanbase and supporters, it’s just been gaining an understanding of what it is and how it’s not important, it’s imperative.”
