Lincoln Riley says USC football NIL operation has 'taken some monster leaps'

Many college football programs had taken a very liberal interpretation of the role collectives could play in the nascent years of the NIL game. USC football appeared to have taken a very conservative and cautious approach to anything that might resemble an “inducement” to lure a prospective athlete to the program.

The NCAA’s recent balk at enforcing its NIL rules against the University of Tennessee, combined with recent successes in the 2025 high school recruiting class, have fans and the media asking if USC changed its NIL stance and competitiveness. USC head coach Lincoln Riley was asked about the big recruiting weekend and NIL after practice on Tuesday.

“NIL has taken some monster leaps since we have been here,” he began. “It’s taken some monster leaps in the last several months, which has been really positive. It’s great to see (for) our fan base and our supporters, for everybody. It’s just been gaining an understanding of what is imperative. You have to have it. Last year was great outside of the whole collective world. Our guys were able to obviously, being in L.A., get more outside deals than anybody in the country, which is awesome, but we need the support to be right there with it too from our donors and from our collectives. That has taken some massive, massive jumps here in the last several months as our people get educated on what that really means, but it’s got to continue. Like any part of this, you know you have to do something about it. Behaviors have to change. You have to tear down things and build new facilities. You have to bring more money in. You have to bring in great, great coaches. You have to raise more NIL. You got to keep pushing the issue. We’re trying to do it and we are asking all our people outside to continue to do that as well.”

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues or if this recruiting success was based solely on the impressions that USC’s secondary coach, Doug Belk, and new defensive line coach, Eric Henderson, and not an improved NIL setup. While the coaches are impactful, the words of Riley are encouraging for fans who have been asking for a more aggressive and competitive NIL operation.

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