For nearly an hour last Monday morning, new USC football general manager Chad Bowden sat around a conference table inside Heritage Hall with a handful of reporters talking about the department he's built, his vision for Trojans recruiting, how ready and equipped the program is to win and more.

Bowden is skilled at messaging. He knows what the fans want to hear and he gives it in heaping doses.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is "as a recruiter the best I've ever been around," he said. Athletic director Jen Cohen is "a friggin' animal" and the "best in the country -- not even close." In terms of NIL resources, the Trojans are going to be as "aggressive as anyone -- we might even be the most aggressive." When revenue sharing between schools and athletes becomes a reality this summer, as it's expected to, Bowden says USC will be utilizing it in a way "that people will be playing catch-up." And, in his evaluation so far, the program is "a lot closer than people think" to competing for its top-end goals.

It's Bowden's job to sell the program -- to recruits, to their families and to the boosters/donors who will help pay for the rosters of elite talent he and Riley aim to build.

And he is most certainly compelling.

Bowden exudes a natural confidence and assuredness that, without being privy to any deeper details, make it all sound genuinely believable that USC's new recruiting staff and growing resources are going to make the difference in closing the talent gap between the Trojans and the programs they're chasing nationally.

Of course, confidence and vision are only the first step -- how this 2026 USC recruiting class pans out come signing day in December will be the next.

For now, though, the talk is tantalizing for Trojans fans wanting a reason to renew belief that Riley can get the program climbing again after two lackluster seasons.

Let's break down everything we've learned so far about this new era of USC football recruiting like we do -- in-depth!

Bowden said he's big on research. He wants to learn everything he can about a place when he gets there -- what's worked, what hasn't, etc.

And in regard to the goal of building USC into a national title contender, well, there's an obvious point of reference to study.

"Something we’ve found is that back when national championships were won here, when Rose Bowls were won here, you know, you look back at Pete Carroll’s classes – ‘02, ‘03, ‘04 – over 80 percent of the recruiting classes were from the state of California," Bowden said. "History repeats itself. It always does. And if you look into the fine details of how programs are built and how the place was built and when success had happened, that was a key part of USC being on top.

"My plans and my vision is to bring that back and take care of the state. The state deserves it. I want these fans, every time they come into the Coliseum and see our kids run out of the tunnel, that they feel that and the kids feel it too. It will mean so much more to the kids. It will mean so much more to our fanbase. It will mean so much more to all of us."

Bowden referenced his time at Cincinnati under head coach Luke Fickell, as the Bearcats became the first Group of 5 program to reach the College Football Playoff in 2021 with a roster heavy on in-state kids from Ohio with a large hyper-local contingent from the Cincinnati area.

"It just meant so much more to them, going and playing for their home and going to play and represent their family," he said. "That’s what we’re going to do here. That’s how we’re going to recruit."

The USC staff emphasized this renewed priority on local and in-state recruiting back on Feb. 1 when it hosted a large group of top targets for its junior day event. That was the clear and consistent message from the staff then, and Bowden doubled-down on it in a big way last Monday.

"I think the ‘26 class is the best class that California has had in two decades," Bowden said. "If you look through it and you really study what those classes looked like, at least the top 30, 40 players in the state, I think this is the best class in two decades."

He also rebutted the common perception that there aren't enough elite offensive or defensive line prospects in California to build a championship contender without pulling significantly from other regions.

"There’s plenty of players up front. And if you look at it, there have been plenty of players up front that have come from California that have been incredibly successful, whether it’s at USC or other places," Bowden said. "But we just have to continue to identify, evaluate, recruit to be on the right ones."

Mind you, Bowden got straight to the local recruiting emphasis talk in his opening comments before any questions had been asked -- this seems as important as any message he and the staff want to promote at this time.

"We’re going to do everything through the city. We’re going to do everything through the state. That’s going to be our primary focus. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to dip into other states because you have to," he said.

To Bowden's point about Carroll's recruiting class being built on the strength of elite local prospects, let's take a look ...

The first Rivals recruiting rankings came out in 2002. USC finished 13th overall in the rankings that year with a whopping 17 of its 21 signees coming from the state of California. The Trojans had the No. 3-ranked recruiting class in 2003 with 25 of its 28 signees coming from within the state. USC's No. 1-ranked recruiting classes in 2004 and 2005 both featured 14 of 19 signees from in-state while the top-ranked 2006 class had 19 of 27 signees from California, the Trojans' No. 2-ranked class in 2007 had 12 of 18 signees from in-state, the No. 8-ranked 2008 class had 15 of 19 from in-state and so on.

For comparison, USC signed just five recruits (out of 24 signees) from California in the 2025 cycle, eight out of 23 in 2024 and 10 of 22 in 2023 in Riley's first full recruiting classes here. (The Trojans signed only 10 players total in 2022 after Riley was hired).

To look deeper within those numbers, Rivals first instituted state rankings for the 2003 class, and in that cycle USC signed six of the top eight in-state prospects, eight of the top 13 and so on down the list, including future stars in RB Reggie Bush, WR Steve Smith, DT Sedrick Ellis, DE Lawrence Jackson, OT Sam Baker and two-year starting OL Drew Radovich.

In 2004, USC signed four of the top 10 California prospects and six of the top 15. In 2005, it was six of the top 10. In 2006, USC signed eight of the top-10 in-state prospects, including each of the top 6. And so on ...

For perspective, USC signed four of the top-50 in-state prospects in both the 2025 class (two of the top 10) and 2024 class (none of the top 10).