Who doesn’t want a fresh start? USC Trojans HC Lincoln Riley is all set to write a new story. Well, they had been exposed to the dark sides of the sport, ending the 2024 season in 7-6. But here comes Riley, erasing the bygone days and focusing on the upcoming chapters that life has for the Trojans. And what’s the best way to make your story super hit in college football? To oomph up your NIL game, right? Not to worry Trojans fans, your HC is at it.

Well, do you remember the time when Riley got tested heavily when he took the Trojans’ reins in 2022? Back then, the HC had to bank upon the transfer portal to build his roster. However, things started to improve gradually. Over his three-year tenure with the Trojans, under Riley, the USC has had three NIL collectives. This included the House of Victory, the nonprofit collective of service that the Trojans launched in April 2023, and the Conquest Collective. Sadly, the last one no longer exists as the co-founder Jeff McKay joined hands with the House of Victory. However, this time Riley can’t afford any more mess up.

So, walking into the fourth year, the HC has some new promises when it comes to the NIL. Perhaps their approach will be more aggressive. On Feb. 5. USC Football’s New Staff Introductory Press Conference took place, and that’s when the HC shared:

“There were a lot of different people that we talked to in a lot of different areas, from the NFL, college, businesses. We talked to people with all types of backgrounds. It was the most honestly extensive search, hiring and interview process that I’ve ever been a part of. But I believe our patience and how thorough we were, how committed we all were, our administration was to getting this right, I think was rewarded”

“Chad obviously his track record speaks for himself, and that was something that made sense pretty quickly when we were able to engage us in some conversations with him in terms of our vision for USC, his vision for what we could continue to be… We’ve set some very aggressive goals from a NIL standpoint that our administration is heading up and we really want to certainly continue to encourage all the great Trojans out there continue to support that initiative.”

Well, Riley did not just talk big. The Trojans are actually making efforts in reality too. He was talking about Chad Bowden, who had been on Marcus Freeman’s staff.

Bowden worked together to build a football program that led the Fighting Irish to the national championship. Riley hired him on January 24 to take up the role of the Trojans’ GM. The ex-Notre Dame staffer’s job will be mainly scouting, recruiting, and salary cap management. Bowden has already shown his power by assembling three top-15 recruiting classes at Notre Dame at just 30. To assist him, Riley hunted down two others who had connections with Bowden. What a move!

That’s Zaire Turner, who will be the assistant athletic director of recruiting operations. The other one is Dre Brown, the executive director of scouting and personnel. “It’s going to be the best personnel off-field staff in the country, and that was the goal,” Riley raved.

Lincoln Riley and Trojans’ ‘go grab it’ NIL approach

Even though Bowden did not delve much into how Riley and Co. will utilize NIL in recruiting, at least we have their strategy. The GM disclosed, “We’re going to major in high school and we’re going to minor in the [transfer] portal.” They are going to follow more of a ‘go grab it’ policy. Bowden added, “We’re going to be aggressive, and we’re going to attack…Something will change and we’re going to be on offense every single day. We’re going to attack it. We’re going to attack it through high school.”

Well, the GM’s USP might have worked in his favor to catch Riley and USC’s attention. After all, that man is known for his unorthodox style of recruiting. His speech too had that element of fun and jester as he joked about the Trojans HC and his staffer to give a hint of how aggressive they are going to be.

He said that Lincoln Riley can be spotted “jumping out of a helicopter,” while Rob Ryan, his newly hired associate HC and linebackers coach, the man with 24 years of NFL experience could “hop down in a parachute” to win the recruits’ hearts.

Well, this only makes their program more interesting to follow. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.