USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley Prioritizing West Coast Recruiting

Creating relationships with local high schools on the west coast is another step towards rebuilding a championship culture at USC.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is wasting no time on the recruiting trail this offseason. Riley visited several west coast high schools this week, including two in the state of California.

Grant Union High School | Sacramento, Calif.

Thank you @CoachZachHanson & @LincolnRiley for visiting Grant High School yesterday. Pray we can send another USC great to the program. ✌🏾🐴🏈💯 #P4L @grant_union https://t.co/hPujvgfpHa pic.twitter.com/TPiU3wPbMG

— H.U. 🇺🇸💯 (@streetsavvyGMG) January 25, 2022

Desert Vista High School | Phoenix, Arizona

Thank you @LincolnRiley for stopping by and talking football philosophy. Much appreciated. @USC_Athletics @DVHS_TUHSD @huffine_tuhsd @DVThunderFB pic.twitter.com/Go4SbsLJuV

— Desert Vista Athletics (@theDVway) January 21, 2022

Folsom High School | Folsom, Calif.

Thank you to Head coach @LincolnRiley & TE Coach @CoachZachHanson from @USC_FB for stopping by Folsom today. We appreciate you! #GoBullDogs #FightOn ✌🏼✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/RJF2txZgaD

— Scott Robison (@CoachScottRob) January 25, 2022

When Riley was introduced as USC head coach, he emphasized an importance on retaining and recruiting talent in Southern California.

"I think it's critical and that'll be honestly something that will be a little bit new for me. Obviously there were some tremendous players where I came from but it wasn't a huge area. ... this is obviously a totally different experience," Riley said in a press conference.

"We've had some success recruiting players from this area in the past. We've had a chance through the years to build some great relationships with people out here that we really trust and know. I think it'll be incredibly important. We'll certainly not just limit ourselves to that because we want to go get the best wherever they're at but I think there's also a realization that a lot of the best are right here and what a tremendous advantage for us for this program and it'll certainly be very important for every member of our staff to to make sure that, again, I go back to the great athletes.

 That's the easy part to see — we're going to go get the great athletes that are the right people for this program and the right people for that locker room and the right people for the culture, and I hope there's as many here as possible and of those we're going to try like crazy to go get every one of them."

USA TODAY

Based on recent recruiting news, it appears things are off to a great start for USC. The Trojans rank No. 1 nationally for 2022 transfer portal football rankings, and gained the commitments of top 22' SoCal talents including CB Domani Jackson, RB Raleek Brown, and WR CJ Williams. 

There's a new No. 1 atop the @247Sports Team Transfer Rankings. ✌ pic.twitter.com/uNkMrGzFPP

— 247Sports Transfer Portal (@247SportsPortal) January 25, 2022

Creating relationships with various high schools on the west coast is another step towards rebuilding a championship culture at USC.

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