The Trojans are marching on to fight the war and this time, they won’t be relying on a big wooden horse but rather the likes of a well-thought-out army of athletes. Lincoln Riley, the HC for the USC Trojans, couldn’t lead his team to the top last season and finished with a score of 8-5 and even this year, has a record of 3-1 already. There are a lot of tough competitors in the Big 10 conference this year that his team will have to overcome to make it to the playoffs but if not, then Riley plans to ensure they have better chances of glory in the 2025 season by bringing in newer talents like Carde Smith.

On the 1st October episode of the ‘On3 Recruits’ show, Phillip Dukes invited USC’s most recent commit Carde Smith onto the show to talk about his decision and what was the it-factor for him to make up his mind. Smith talked about how he was being sought desperately the most by the Colorado Buffaloes but one visit to Los Angeles reconfirmed his decision to choose Riley’s team as his new home.

While talking about his visit to LA, Smith iterated the story of how the entire team went to the house of Coach Riley for a cookout, and it is where the HC made this one statement that convinced Smith that USC would be the right destination. When Dukes asked Smith what Riley said that made him feel USC was the team to pick, the lineman responded by saying, “He said, “Hey man, you know this home. You don’t want to be nowhere else.” 

It is worth noting that Smith had previously committed to Auburn but reconsidered his decision after this very visit to Los Angeles in June. With that being said, here’s a further look into what Smith had to say about the entire coaching staff of USC and Lincoln Riley himself.

Carde Smith sings a song of praise for Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans

Back in August, Smith revealed that he has chosen to commit to USC over offers from universities like Auburn, Colorado, Florida State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and others. The 4-star lineman will be one of the newest weapons in the arsenal of the Trojans due to his strong physique and the ability to tear through defense.

Additionally, the 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman is ranked as the nation’s number 269 overall prospect and number 26th offensive tackle.

His decision-making process stretched out a bit this year, from decommitting from Auburn to visiting LA to meet the staff which eventually was the needle in the haystack he needed to finally make the right choice. Smith talked about the head coach of USC and said, “Talking with Coach Lincoln Riley. I feel like Coach Riley is the best head coach in the game. Just being in Cali itself is amazing. They treat me like family, the players, the coaches, the recruits, all that. It just felt like home to me.”

All these emotions that Smith felt in California became the deciding factors in his decision and now that he’s joined the Trojans, he will be the beast that the team will direly need in their offensive line for the 2025 season.