Recent USC decommitments further validate Oklahoma’s recruiting strategy

Former Oklahoma Sooners football head coach and the current head coach of the USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley, has lost two major commitments on the defensive side of the ball this week.

First, it was five-star EDGE Isaiah Gibson, who recommitted from Southern Cal on Tuesday. Gibson was ranked as the number one edge-rusher in the 2025 recruiting class, according to On3. The Georgia native had been committed to Riley and defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn since March.

Wednesday wasn’t better for Riley, as Gibson spoke about his decommittment, saying “I’m looking for a real deal football program that fits me.” Not exactly what a program wants to hear after a player decommits.

The hits kept coming for the Trojans, as five-star defensive lineman Justus Terry would decommit on Wednesday. The number two defensive lineman in the ’25 class per On3, Terry had also been committed to Riley and Lynn since March.

“…I can’t imagine that there could be a setting that we could build a better roster than we can here,” Riley said just months after leaving Norman for L.A.

Two days, two losses for USC. This is also coming on the heels of the cancellation of their future home-and-home series with Ole Miss. A few weeks ago, a report from Saturday Down South revealed Riley and the Trojans tried for months to get their series with the LSU Tigers canceled. That certainly didn’t quiet the “Lincoln Riley is afraid of the SEC” narrative.

What this week’s developments do for Oklahoma fans is highlight the successes of Brent Venables’ recruiting strategy. Venables is focused on and committed to building up the entire program, not just the offense. His predecessor was, and still is, among the best in the business at recruiting quarterbacks and wide receivers. But Riley has never been able to see his teams consistently play…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/recent-usc-decommitments-further-validate-111019292.html

Author : Sooners Wire

Publish date : 2024-06-20 11:10:19

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