USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley Eyeing Backup Plan For Julian Lewis Exit

Since his commitment to the USC Trojans in August of 2023, Julian Lewis has been viewed as the future of USC Football.

However, after a very open recruiting process, one that is still open and has him visiting Georgia again this weekend, it is beginning to look like Lewis may never don the Cardinal and Gold after all.

Both 247 Sports and On3 have now logged predictions that Lewis will indeed flip his commitment, and both have him going to Colorado.

There are plenty of rumors out there about the entire situation, but one thing is for sure, Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans are ramping up their interest in local QB prospect, Husan Longstreet.

USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley Eyeing Husan Longstreet Flip

The 6’1, 195-pound prospect out of Centennial High School in Corona, CA is currently committed to Texas A&M.

Longstreet has not officially shut down his recruitment, but his last official visit was back in April and that was to Auburn. His most recent unofficial visit, however, was coincidentally to USC on November 4, which was his first visit to SC.

There are still a lot of moving parts, and Julian Lewis has yet to officially de-commit, but it certainly seems to be trending that way. If Riley were able to flip Longstreet, it would be a fairly even swap, in terms of recruiting rankings.

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Per On3 industry rankings, Lewis is the 7th ranked QB in the 2025 class, while Longstreet is the 4th ranked QB in the class.

One variable in this whole developing story is that Longstreet is a local prospect. Much has been made about Lincoln Riley’s inability, or unwillingness, to recruit within California and rebuild the “Trojan Wall” around Los Angeles.

During the bye, Riley visited local powerhouse Mater Dei, and Monarch’s head coach, Raul Lara, gave a positive update that fans should be excited about.

Per Luca Evans of the OC Register, Lara said, “It was a great start to our relationship. I think from here on out, we’re gonna be pretty good.”

Could the potential of flipping Longstreet to stay home, and a newly built relationship with Mater Dei signify a slight change in strategy from Lincoln Riley?

I expect this coaching staff to remain very active in Georgia, Texas, Florida, and other recruiting hotbeds, but hopefully, this is a step in the right direction in building recruiting dominance in California once again.

National Letter of Intent Day is rapidly approaching at the beginning of December, and the USC Trojans 2025 recruiting class may end up looking a bit different than it currently does.