Have the Men of Troy Awoken?

What has plagued Riley’s teams at Southern California are two things: the Trojans' approach to NIL and their lack of defense.

Riley’s defenses have been plagued by the ineptitude of Alex Grinch as the regression of his defenses became worse and worse each year at Oklahoma and it was Southern California administrators and influencers who seemingly could not justify the atrocious performances last season.

It was a make or break for Riley in this regard, and this offseason his ability to make dramatic change has begun to pay immediate dividends. I outlined this emphasis in my December column when Riley had a defensive coaching coup of bringing in D’Anton Lynn as defensive coordinator, Doug Belk as secondary coach, and Matt Entz as linebacker coach, who will also serve as the team’s assistant head coach.

What we saw last weekend when the Trojans got four Class of 2025 defensive recruits in a day where the Trojans got five major commitments. The defensive highlights by defensive lineman Justus Terry a five-star prospect from Manchester HS (Manchester, GA) was a major flip from Georgia. 247Sports' top-rated EDGE rusher Isaiah Gibson from Warner Robins HS (Warner Robins, GA) continued the Trojans' march through the Peach State.

The final defensive highlight is four-star safety Hylton Stubbs ranked as the No. 6 safety in 247Sports composite rankings from Mandarin HS (Jacksonville, FL).

The Trojans received a fifth major defensive commitment from Class of 2026 cornerback Dominick Kelly from Robinson HS (Tampa, FL), who selected the Trojans over Georgia, Notre Dame, and Penn State.

Considering the major recruiting wins in Georgia where seemingly Kirby Smart had built an impenetrable recruiting wall, especially with defensive talent, is a major exclamation point on the resurgence of the mighty Trojan empire.

One of the obvious factors that led to the decisions of these kids had to be NIL, something Riley alluded to in an interview with USCFootball.com’s Connor Morrisette.

"NIL has taken some monster leaps in the last several months, which has been positive," Riley told USCFootball.com.

"I think for everybody, our fanbase and supporters, it's just been gaining an understanding of what it is and how it's not important, it's imperative. You have to have it. Last year, it was okay. It was great kind of outside of the whole collective world. Being in LA, our guys probably get more outside deals than anybody in the country, which is awesome. But we need the support to be right there with that too with our donors and our collectives. That has taken some massive, massive jumps here in the last several months."

— Southern Cal head coach Lincoln Riley on NIL

To understand the major paradigm shift with the Trojans embracing their NIL, even more from their House of Victory collective. The school at first was still on edge after the Reggie Bush fallout that led to heavy sanctions. Many administrators were hesitant to embrace this change. This was especially true within the athletics department, as former athletic director Mike Bohn was vehemently against starting a collective.

New athletic director Jen Cohen, saw firsthand the impact a collective could have on the football program when she watched Kalen DeBoer at Washington galvanize the state and embrace NIL with Montlake Futures. Couple that with their embrace of the transfer portal, and you saw the Huskies play for a national championship this past season.

Spencer Harris of the House of Victory collective spoke with The Athletic about how the administration’s view of collectives has changed and said of Cohen. 

“I think the second part of this shift in capacity has to do with leadership at USC and Jen Cohen stepping into her role as athletic director and really streamlining communication and understanding of how important this space is and being able to effectively communicate that to people up and down the university and obviously the donor base as well.”

— House of Victory NIL Collective Executive Director Spencer Harris

The major shift for Harris and House of Victory is now how the collective can approach recruits.

Harris mentioned that in the previous recruiting cycles, a recruit could be told what potential NIL opportunities are available but the House of Victory couldn’t have an official conversation with the recruit until they were officially part of Southern Cal. Now that has all changed, and House of Victory can have a conversation with the recruit on a separate meeting on a visit to Los Angeles about the opportunities the recruit can potentially have.

The House of Victory collective has grown over three times from the previous year and will only look to continue to grow in the coming years.

The Trojans obviously have to prove it on the field, that is the only link missing in my sanity check proclaiming they are poised to run college football. The basis of my prediction is Southern California has all the ingredients in place to do it, and when you realize Riley got another five-star quarterback Julian Lewis from Carrollton HS (Carrollton, GA) on top of all this momentum, it’s hard to think there won’t be another Reign of Troy in college football.