USC football's 2023 recruiting class 'nowhere near what I thought it would look like'

The Athletic writers Grace Raynor and Ari Wasserman both listed the Trojans' recruiting class falling outside the top ten nationally as their "most surprising development" in a Pac-12 recruiting story

The Athletic put out a Pac-12 recruiting roundtable following National Signing Day where writers broke down the 2023 recruiting classes from each team in the conference. 

USC received mixed reviews. 

Grace Raynor and Ari Wasserman both listed the Trojans' recruiting class falling outside the top ten nationally as their "most surprising development."

Raynor: The Trojans have everything they need to regularly compete for national championships, including the right head coach, tradition, plenty of resources and a fertile recruiting ground. But they’ll have to recruit like the big boys if they want to be competitive each year. Lincoln Riley did a nice job hitting the transfer portal this cycle, but the high school classes will have to be better in the future. That means signing top five classes and keeping prospects like Matayo Uiagalelei, for example, home.

Wasserman: I’m with Grace on this one. Maybe it was shortsighted of me to just assume that Riley would easily take the West Coast by storm and routinely put together top-five classes. But the Trojans not only fell short of that top-five distinction, they finished outside of the top 10 with a very top-heavy class. Yes, the offensive skill talent was off the charts — Riley is, after all, in charge — but the depth of the class was lacking, and there wasn’t enough talent on the lines or on defense. It was a solid class, but nowhere near what I thought it would look like.

USC's class is currently 12th nationally in 247Sports.com's composite recruiting rankings. It may move up in the future if the program can add 5-star tight end Duce Robinson, who announced he'll choose a school by April 1. 

There was good news for the Trojans too though in The Athletic's roundtable. Wide receiver Zachariah Branch was a popular pick amongst the panel when they were asked about the offensive player who they think will make biggest impact in 2023. 

Branch is the No. 1 rated wide receiver prospect nationally.

- USC football: Grading Lincoln Riley's 2023 recruiting and transfer class position-by-position