USC Football

RJ and Shotgun discuss Lincoln Riley's comments on USC's freshman class and how several newcomers are showing they are ready to contribute right away. They break down the possibility of multiple freshmen earning starting roles at different positions, along with the number of young players who could see significant playing time as the Trojans look to find roles for this talented class.

(Photo: Jordan Scruggs, 247Sports) USC landed its first commitment of the 2028 class off the heels of its first scholarship to a quarterback in the class. Frisco (Texas) Lone Star three-star quarterback Trey Wright did not waste any time with the Golden Ticket; committing to the Trojans just a few days after being offered a scholarship.

(Photo: Andrew Ivins, 247Sports) Frisco (Texas) Lone Star 2028 quarterback Trey Wright makes a quick turnaround, committing to USC in less than a week of receiving a scholarship offer from head coach Lincoln Riley. Wright had over 30 scholarship offers before landing one from USC. Clemson was once seen as the favorite, but the opportunity to be coached by Riley was too much to pass up. "I'm grateful he sees what I know I can bring to a program," said Wright.

Takeaways from spending a week in Southern California and getting to see multiple full USC practices, including the Trojan's mid-fall camp scrimmage in the Coliseum. VIP In the current sporting landscape where college coaches in all sports have become increasingly worried about someone finding a way to spy on their practices (and just as importantly, their players, in the current transfer portal era), this week's USC football practices were a breath of fresh air.

RJ and Makena break down USC's 10th practice of fall camp, discussing how coaches are beginning to make things more complicated across position groups and challenging players to make reads and decisions at full speed. They highlight the strong coaching connections being built with players, Jayden Maiava's impressive camp including his arm strength, decision-making and leadership and the ongoing competition at center.

USC has a new addition to the 2026-27 squad with Belarus international player Alesya Talkovskaya, announcing her commitment on Instagram Friday afternoon. The 17-year-old prospect spent the last two seasons with the Horizont Minsk women's squad. She averaged 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, two assists and 1.8 steals in 29 games last season. Talkovskaya stands at 5-foot-11 and played the forward position in Belarus, but she's likely to be a guard with the Women of Troy.

VIDEO USC has made the turn on fall camp and the Trojans' consecutive fully open practices left Shotgun Spratling and RJ Abeytia with plenty of takeaways on the Trojans even working under the constraints of secrecy around Wednesday's scrimmage at the Coliseum and Friday's practice at Howard Jones Field. Lincoln Riley made it clear Friday the coaches have gained some valuable clarity on the numerous position battles across the roster.

More on the topics for this week edition of the USCFootball.com War Room: Third is first USC AD gets an A+ Practice swap Hollywood nights May the force be with you Freshmen advice Still under contruction And plenty more! The one rule we have for The War Room is simply that everything that is reported here should stay here and on The Peristyle. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply does not need to be passed on beyond the doors of this thread.

One of the biggest differences in the NIL era is that very few players enter the season uncommitted. USC's class of 2027 is all but completed with fourteen verbal… VIP (Photo: Jackson Moore, 247Sports) One of the biggest differences in the NIL era is that very few players enter the season uncommitted. USC's class of 2027 is all but completed with fourteen verbal commits. It was expected to be a smaller class following 2026, which was bursting at the seams with 35 commitments.

This week on the Peristyle Podcast Ryan, Shotgun and RJ talk about USC's Coliseum scrimmage. In this edition of the Peristyle Podcast hosts Ryan Abraham, Shotgun Spratling and RJ Abeytia are back in studio talking about USC holding its first live scrimmage of fall camp. On Wednesday morning the Trojan football team headed over to the Coliseum for some offense on defense action and our crew was in attendance, checking out all of the action.