The narrative has been well told by now, how USC shook off its unthinkable Class of 2020 recruiting struggles, hired a new defensive staff featuring one of the top recruiters in the country in Donte Williams, rejuvenated its momentum and reversed its fortunes with the No. 8-ranked 2021 signing class.
But the origin of USC's recruiting reboot was actually obscured by the shadow of that preceding nadir.
Early in 2019, as a variety of factors were driving the Trojans toward their lowest-ranked recruiting finish on record (tied for 71st nationally, last in the Pac-12), the groundwork for the future was also being set.
After seeing his already undermanned recruiting staff lose its axis of operation with the departure of Eric Ziskin, USC coach Clay Helton would take his time filling the post, eventually hiring a 26-year-old from Fresno State named Spencer Harris, and in so doing setting a new strategic course for the department.
It's understandable if those on the outside didn't see at the time the future crystallizing in that hire in April of 2019, but behind the scenes a shift was underway, rooted in interweaving connections and influences that thread from Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Seattle to Athens, Ga., and back to Los Angeles.
Not to mention a series of dominos to come that couldn't have been known then.
More on that in a bit, but the first of those dominos was USC turning the reigns of what should be one of the more desirable recruiting jobs in the country over to an under-the-radar upstart who a handful of years earlier had gotten his entry into college football as an ambitious equipment manager at Washington.
Two years in, with the perspective of everything that has unfolded since, that hire is looking like an inspired -- and pivotal -- decision.
"It's OK to be young and talented," Helton says over the phone last week, reflecting back on the first move of what has become a significant reconstruction of his recruiting staff. "There's a lot of good men and women that are looking for their breakout opportunity that are really talented at what they do and they're just looking for that chance. And those that are willing to take a risk on that talent and what that person is made up of are going to reap the rewards. And I really felt that with Spencer.
"In interviewing a bunch of folks for the position and then having a chance to sit down with Spencer, I loved his work ethic, I loved his talent at the position, I loved his big-picture aspiration and his vision of that department. And it was outside-the-box thinking. I just felt, 'Wow, this guy, he's got it.'"
Not knowing the full scope of who USC considered for the role -- or more to the point, who considered USC -- it's hard to gauge exactly how appealing the job was nationally in that moment.
The Trojans had just gone 5-7 the previous fall, Helton's future looked cloudier than ever -- factors that would contribute greatly to the outcome of that already-in-the-works 2020 signing class -- and it was widely known that USC's recruiting staff was lagging well behind its national peers in terms of size and resources.
Harris was aware of all of that as well, but he's also intrinsically competitive and had found his calling in a job that can be a tireless grind no matter what the extenuating circumstances. Years earlier, he had quit a finance internship to rejoin the football program at Washington (after his initial equipment manager stint) while still in school there. An opportunity on the player personnel side had opened and Harris saw quickly the career he wanted to pursue. A former captain of his high school football team, his preference was always for a future in athletics, and he found a fresh outlet for competition in the world of recruiting and the idea of playing an essential role in building the rosters that would ultimately decide wins and losses on the field.
Having spent two years at Fresno State while moving onto more responsibility after his start with the Huskies, he now saw the next opportunity to continue his rapid ascent in the business and help chart the future for one of college football's marquee brands.
"I really felt I was ready for the next opportunity and the next challenge. And yes, I knew USC had challenges. They were just coming off the 5-7 2018 year, I knew that they were understaffed, I knew that the perception wasn't great. But still, it was USC," Harris says, looking back. "... I enjoyed my time with Coach Helton and felt like he was going to empower me to build this department and make a big positive impact on how we evaluate players, on what our process is, on how we operate our business."
Essentially, Harris wanted to bring what he describes as a pro-model personnel department to USC. He traces the genesis back to what Nick Saban installed at Alabama after returning from his time in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. One of Harris' mentors at Washington, Marshall Malchow -- now the associate AD for football at Texas A&M -- had been wired just like Harris as a student at Alabama, eager to find a place and future in the sport while pouncing at an entry-level position with the Crimson Tide early in Saban's tenure. His weaving path eventually landed him at Washington, where he taught the tools and philosophy to Harris, and it's that vision and model that Harris would then pitch in his interview at USC.
