Since the transfer portal opened two Mondays ago, USC has lost 18 scholarship players, including former five-star WRs Duce Robinson and Zachariah Branch, former five-star DT Bear Alexander (who left the team in September), fellow former top-100 prospects in RB Quinten Joyner and LB Raesjon Davis, starting right tackle Mason Murphy, former starting quarterback Miller Moss, starting wide receiver Kyron Hudson and more.
In return, the Trojans have added two transfer pickups so far in cornerback DJ Harvey (San Jose State) and running back Eli Sanders (New Mexico).
Coach Lincoln Riley was asked Wednesday after practice how he'd evaluate what's transpired with the portal so far.
"I don’t know that I’d put generalizations on it. It’s just kind of the new world we live in. The reality is you’re gonna go get some transfers to come in. You’re gonna have people that exit your program. It’s just a part of the world. I’ve learned to not really carry any emotion with it," Riley said. "A lot of these are business decisions, I think kind of like I’ve said before, on both sides. When those things happen, you have to understand that this is becoming more of a business than it’s ever been. I don’t get too high or too low when good news comes across my desk or tough news comes across my desk.
"I think it’s my job to stay steady and stay committed to the vision. That’s what we’re doing. Best part of the day still remains these practices."
Actually, Riley's entire post-practice media session Wednesday ended up being talk about the transfer portal and the new realities of college football, managing NIL and players' financial demands, etc.
And as usual on such matters, Riley was rather candid and had plenty to say.
"Listen, I think everyone is having to adapt. Everybody is having to determine where they place value – on certain positions, on certain people. That’s just the nature of it. You see the discussion on how much you pay a starting quarterback in the NFL. How much is a running back worth? How much is a receiver worth? If a guy has this type of production, then what percentage of a salary cap does that entitle him to? Or does that make sense for the program to be able to give to them? It’s very cut and dry. It’s very production-based," he said. "Everybody is going to have their philosophies, obviously. That was a lot different when I first came here. Everybody had their 85 scholarships. You knew what you had, and you go fill in the best you can and build the best team. You’re still building a best team, but now, the means of how you’re doing that, the way you’re doing that have shifted completely.
"It’s a totally different mindset in doing it. Are we adapting? Certainly. Are some of the decisions we made a few years ago – would we have made those in this current climate? No, we definitely would have done different things. We all knew this was coming in some form, but I don’t think any of us could have predicted, I guess, just how quickly it has changed, how fundamentally it has changed. I think the whole college football world is trying to adapt right now, which is, honestly, I think for everybody a little difficult to keep up with."
Without talking about specific players or situations, Riley acknowledged that many of the players USC has lost to the transfer portal have been the result of financial decisions -- from both sides.
"Yeah, I mean, they have. On both sides, like I’ve told you guys. I mean, every school, like – you have a budget. And this is what we got to spend and you got to decide – it’s tough because we’re not completely professional. When a lot of these guys were signed, it wasn’t in a professional manner. It was sitting in their living rooms, like relationships, you know. It was program, it was academics, it was the development, like, all those things. And now, now all of a sudden it’s like it’s shifted midstream," Riley said.
"So I think that’s what maybe has made it maybe tough on everybody involved right now. Players, coaches, schools, everybody. Because a lot of these guys were brought in under a different system. And now that’s changed. And so, now there’s a financial component to every decision that we make, and every decision that a player makes. And it doesn’t always mean that it’s the most important thing ... between each player, each family. But for us, that’s the mindset you gotta have. We got a salary cap, and we got to look at production, and we gotta look at positions, we gotta look at value with the team, I mean, all of those things.
"And so, it’s been, it’s been fun kind of putting that together and really kind of what our philosophies are going to be on it. But it’s just, having to transition in the middle without a lot of clear-cut rules has added some challenges for all of us."
Riley said those decisions and conversations involve the Trojans' football personnel department, including general manager Dave Emerick, along with athletic director Jen Cohen and deputy athletic director/chief of staff Jay Hilbrands.
"Because obviously they play a key role in that. And so, yeah, nah, we’ve got a team of people together. We did a lot of consulting, or used a lot of consultants in the offseason, in terms of people in the NFL, people that have done this for a long time, people in the business world. And you try to think about it different ways. And I think the tough thing now is, like, what your philosophy was, or your standards, or maybe what you thought some of these markets were going to be, even in, like, September to now, have so drastically changed," Riley said. "And it’s not defined. And so, you’re just, you’re working within parameters that are in no way defined. And I think that’s been, I think, why it’s kind of had the negative vibe around it – meaning, just kind of, college football and this whole situation is to me, it’s not like the money or the amounts or none of that.
"It’s, I think just, the lack of clarity that everybody has. And when we finally get that, in some form or fashion, that’ll make it a lot better for all parties involved. Schools, coaches, players, everyone.”
Riley is referring to the revenue sharing model that is coming to college athletics in the year ahead, with salary caps for what schools can directly pay players outside of traditional NIL deals.
"We can’t always control the amount of money that’s out there, what all the decisions get made are in terms of caps, and what you got to spend, and all that. And so, I think it’s more about, all right, 100% of this cap – what do I feel that a left tackle is worth, and what do I feel that this player at this position is worth for this program? I say I, but we. And so, I think we’ve really tried to state that, because you can’t let emotions get too much into it. And you can’t get too tied to one player, because one piece affects everything," Riley said.
"Before, again, it was 85 scholarships. This one scholarship [didn't] affect the other 84. If that one’s not there, the other 84 is still exactly the same. Now, you overpay for the wrong person, it affects every other one on the roster. And so you gotta, at some point, it’s got to come back into production for the USC football program. And so, yeah, there’s a lot of different ways to look at it. It is, again, with clarity, I think that will help us all. But hey, you have to stick to your standards, and you have to stay steady, because you never know – right now, you wake up every day and you never know what’s coming.”
