The USC Trojans didn’t clean up in the December transfer portal. USC football didn’t get those splashy players such as Bear Alexander or Jordan Addison, the kinds of players who significantly upgrade a program. Fans might still lament that USC didn’t do better in December. Here’s a message: Don’t worry. Let it go. It was worth sacrificing December for longer-term goals and needs.
USC coach Lincoln Riley knew his team’s last game of the regular season was on November 18. There would be no Pac-12 Championship Game on December 1. Riley could have moved quickly to get his new staff in place and pounce on opportunities when the portal opened on December 4. Instead, Riley wanted to wait and get the right guys on staff to set up long-term recruiting plans and see what could happen in the spring portal window, which opens on April 16.
Given what we have seen from Eric Henderson — who was still coaching the Los Angeles Rams through early January — waiting that extra month to fill out the staff and sacrificing December for longer-term needs has turned out to be the right play. USC simply wasn’t in an ideal position to pounce in December. Getting the right guys on staff has now borne fruit with Henderson and Doug Belk landing defensive prospects — five in total — on Sunday, March 24. Henderson could not have come to USC in December. The Trojans needed to wait.
Patience, it seems, paid off.
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