USC Trojans' Lincoln Riley's Candid Comments On Transfer Portal Losses, NIL Budget

NIL has forever changed the landscape of college football, creating a free agency frenzy when the transfer portal opens and affecting high school recruiting. USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley addressed the mass exodus in the portal and navigating NIL on Wednesday.

Nov 16, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

It has been a little more than three years since it became legal for student-athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness (NIL) in July 2021. Some programs have found success in the NIL era, while the USC Trojans are still trying to figure out how to navigate the ever-changing world of college football. 

The addition to the sport has made roster retention difficult and the transfer portal increasingly active every window. USC has already lost 19 players since the portal opened last Monday, Dec. 9, including two former five-stars in the 2023 recruiting cycle, receivers Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson. Of the 11 players the Trojans signed in the Rivals100 prospects in the 2022 and 2023 cycle, nine have transferred out. 

USC coach Lincoln Riley addressed the transfer portal and NIL when he met with the media on Wednesday. 

Nov 16, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

“It’s just kind of the new world that we live in,” Riley said. “The reality is you’re going to recruit some transfers to come in, you’re going to have people exit your program, it’s just apart of the world. I’ve learned to not really carry emotion with it. A lot of these are business decisions, I think like I’ve said before on both sides and when those things happen you have to understand it and understand that this is becoming more of a business obviously than it’s ever been. I don’t get too high or too low when good news comes across my desk or tough news comes across my desk. "

“I think it’s my job to stay steady and stay committed to the vision and that’s what we’re doing. The best part of the day still remains these practices, these guys are practicing their a** off. Kind of been disappointed each day when I blow the whistle to end practice. Excited about the team, excited about the guys we have out here and obviously excited about the guys that are coming in,” Riley said. 

College football has become very similar to professional sports with the transfer portal window becoming a free agency frenzy, except for the fact college coaches have to re-recruit their entire roster every season. In the NFL, players are under contract but in college athletics student-athletes will leave their current program any given year for various reasons, more compensation, playing time, better situations, jump to a higher level of competition, etc., but will more often than not ultimately sign with a school that can offer the best financial packages through NIL deals.

Athletes can transfer multiple times in their careers and be permitted to play immediately, without having to sit out a year each time. College football is a business, programs can buy talent, creating a revolving door for rosters. There are no rules, and tough decisions have to be made. 

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“I think everyone’s having to adapt, everyone’s having to determine, where they place value on certain positions, on certain people and that’s the nature of it,” Riley said. “The NFL has been doing it forever, you see the discussion on how much should you pay a starting quarterback, how much is a running back worth, how much is a receiver worth of a guy has this type of production then what percentage of a salary cap does that entitle them or does that make sense for the program to be able to give to them. It’s very cut and drive, its very production based, everybody’s going to have their philosophies. 

“Obviously it’s a lot different than when I first came here, everybody had 85 scholarships and you knew what you had and you go fill them the best you can and build the best team you have,” Riley continued. “You’re still building a best team but now the means of how you’re doing it have shifted completely. It’s a totally different mindset in doing it. Are we adapting? Certainly. Are some of the decisions we made a few years ago, would we have made those in this current climate? No, we definitely would have done different things. We all knew this one coming some form, but I don’t think any of us could have predicted how quickly it’s changed, how fundamentally it’s changed, the whole college football world is trying to adapt right now, which I think for everyone is a little difficult to keep up with.”

Nov 2, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stands on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Washington Huskies at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

NIL has not only affected current rosters, but has reshaped high school recruiting. Take five-star Michigan quarterback signee Bryce Underwood for example. The Wolverines were able to flip longtime LSU commit with an eight-figure NIL package just weeks before the early national signing period. The 2025 cycle was filled with an unprecedented number of decommitments for many programs, USC had 14 players alone that ended up decommitting from them.

The days of high school recruits signing on the dotted line because of facilities, tradition and player development are long gone. High school recruiting isn’t the same as it was when NIL began in July 2021 to what it was this most recent cycle. Despite the close proximity to elite high school talent in Southern California, the Trojans have finished with a top 10 recruiting class under Riley just once in 2023.

“Every school has a budget, and this is what we got to spend, and you got to decide,” Riley said. “It’s tough because we’re not completely professional. When a lot of these guys were signed it wasn’t in a professional manner, it was sitting in their living rooms, like relationships. It was program, it was academics, it was development, all those things. Now, all of a sudden, it’s shifted midstream, that’s what’s made it tough on everybody involved right now, players, coaches, schools, everybody because a lot of these guys were brought in under a different system and now that’s changed.”

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