We sound like a broken record, but at this point, it seems inevitable that the current USC Trojans commit, 5-star QB Julian Lewis, will be taking his talents elsewhere. Whether that is to Colorado, Georgia, or somewhere else remains to be seen.
We wrote just last week that Lincoln Riley and the Trojans had begun devising a backup plan. That backup plan may have been crafted some time ago, but it seems that recently it has been put into action.
Per Steve Wiltfong of On3.com, “Talks have intensified with local QB Husan Longstreet.”
USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley Targeting Husan Longstreet
We also wrote a few months back that Lincoln Riley was so all in on Julian Lewis that he turned away the Number 1 QB in the class Bryce Underwood. Wiltfong confirms this by saying that Riley recruits one QB at a time and since they were in on Lewis, they were not recruiting anyone else.
Now that Lewis seems to have changed his mind, it has forced Riley to move on to the next option, which is Texas A&M commit Husan Longstreet.
- Husan Longstreet Stats: 1,425 passing yards, 18 TDs, 4 INTs, 442 rushing yards, 5 TDs
The Trojans have two things going for them, and two things going against them in this battle to flip the Centennial product.
Going for them is the fact that they are the local school down the road, and Lincoln Riley (whatever you think about him as a head coach) is the quarterback guru in College Football. As a quarterback, you can’t get a better path to the NFL than Riley. Seven years being a head coach and five starting NFL quarterbacks. The proof is in the pudding.
Going against them is the fact that Longstreet’s brother, Kevin Longstreet, plays for Texas A&M, and also a little thing called NIL. Based on plenty of conversations, we know that USC has the money to compete in the NIL space, the question remains will they shell out the money necessary, especially against the likes of Texas A&M?
Based on On3’s NIL evaluations, Longstreet’s NIL is actually less ($830k) than Julian Lewis’s evaluation ($903), so this should not be an issue. However, all too many times during this recruiting season have we seen players de-commit from USC due to higher offers elsewhere (this was ultimately the case for Hayden Lowe just days ago).
Longstreet is the only QB that USC is currently targeting, so they have to have confidence they can get it done. Either way, the talks are intensifying and the end of this month is going to be fascinating.