Tag: raleek brown

USC is losing former five-star recruits at an alarming rate

We can’t ignore how many highly-touted recruits are leaving USC. It’s not the sign of a healthy program heading in the right direction.

They say that the key to building a successful program is signing lots of blue-chip recruits. That is true at USC football and other places, but it only works if the recruits actually stick around.

Perhaps no program is a bigger example of this right now than USC itself. In his first three recruiting cycles at USC, Lincoln Riley signed six players who were rated as a five-star by at least one of the four major recruiting services (247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN). Of those six, just one is still with the Trojans.

Last offseason, USC saw cornerback Domani Jackson, running back Raleek Brown, and quarterback Malachi Nelson transfer out. This year, the Trojans have lost wide receivers Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson. (Several of them have also offered some snide comments following their departures.) Only wide receiver Makai Lemon remains with the team.

Now, each individual player had their own reasons for leaving. Some struggled to earn playing time, while others did not play well and left in search of a fresh start elsewhere.

Still, the fact that the Trojans have lost as many former highly-touted recruits as they have is an alarming sign. Clearly, Riley and his staff are struggling to develop and retain the talent that they are signing, which is a major problem.

It would be one thing if USC was continuing to win games despite the departures. But the Trojans are just 14-11 since the start of the 2023 season.

Riley and company will need to get these issues sorted out and start winning soon. Otherwise, they might not be around for much longer.

Former USC running back and receiver Raleek Brown transfers to Arizona State

Raleek Brown will play for Kenny Dillingham in 2024.

Raleek Brown is not transferring from one Pac-12 school to another. He also isn’t transferring from one Big Ten school to another.

The world of conference realignment is creating some strange, new realities for everyone to deal with. Raleek Brown is making a move which would have caused a lot more USC fan anxiety and frustration one year ago. Now? It’s not nearly as much of a cause for concern.

Brown committed to Arizona State on Saturday. In 2022, this would have been an in-conference transfer from the Trojans to a direct competitor. Now, with Arizona State going to the Big 12 in 2024 and not being on USC’s schedule, this transfer won’t have nearly the same negative impact it would have had a year ago. USC will be off to the Big Ten, and ASU will be in a separate conference.

Lincoln Riley couldn’t make the pieces fit for Brown, who has obvious athletic ability but had problems making the right cuts and going through the right gaps in a defense. We will see if Kenny Dillingham can unlock Brown’s talents in Tempe with the Sun Devils.

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Top places former USC Trojan Raleek Brown could land in the portal

USC can’t afford seeing Raleek Brown go to Oregon.

USC wideout/running back Raleek Brown intends to enter the transfer portal when it opens on December 4, according to On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

Brown spent two seasons with the Trojans, redshirting during the 2023 campaign. He’ll have four years of eligibility remaining at whichever school he moves to next.

Oklahoma, Oregon, Kansas, LSU and Tennessee are my top schools that would best fit Brown. Those schools could land him in the transfer portal.

Brown had 227 rushing yards, 175 receiving yards, and six total touchdowns as a true freshman last year. He had just six total touches for 34 yards this season.

As a recruit, Brown was the No. 69 overall prospect in the 2022 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was also ranked the nation’s No. 8 wide receiver and the No. 5 player in California.

This might be a recurring theme, but the one place USC doesn’t want Raleek Brown to land is Oregon. The Trojans know that Oregon will join USC in the Big Ten next year. They need to avoid losing players directly to the Ducks. They can more easily afford losing players to Utah or Oregon State or Stanford, since the Trojans won’t be in the same conference with any of those schools next year in the Big Ten.

Oregon is different. We will see what happens with Raleek Brown.

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USC fans react to Raleek Brown entering the transfer portal

Unfortunate but not surprising.

The transfer portal is already swirling with tons of players across college football entering the portal on Monday after the regular season came to an end. The portal officially opens on December 4, but players are making decisions, stating their intentions, and filing their paperwork now. One USC player has declared he wants out.

Raleek Brown, the USC Trojans’ talented running back/wide receiver hybrid, announced his decision to enter the portal.

It isn’t too much of a surprise, especially with Brown deciding to redshirt after the Trojans’ first game of the season, but now it’s official: He will play elsewhere after two seasons with the Trojans.

The reactions came pouring in. There is no denying Brown’s skill set is one of the more unique ones in the country, although Lincoln Riley never found a big role for him.

USC fans had to confront the reality that it just never came together for Raleek Brown:

Raleek Brown’s future at USC will be a big question heading into the offseason

This is a very important question.

This is a roster question which will loom large for USC in the coming weeks. Raleek Brown, a dynamic 5-foot-8 running back with plenty of speed and obvious potential, got the call to play Saturday night when MarShawn Lloyd got scratched due to injury. The USC Trojans took a 52-42 loss to Washington at home, but it wasn’t due to a lack of offense.

Caleb Williams put on a show passing for 312 yards and three touchdowns for the Trojans (7-3, 5-2), who have lost three of four games.

Brown, in his first action since San Jose State in late August, had 3 carries for 16 yards and a touchdown. He also added 2 catches for 4 yards.

The Mater Dei product racked up 227 rushing yards, 175 receiving yards, and six total touchdowns as a true freshman last year.

He can still play in two more games for USC and preserve his redshirt on the year. With the last three losses the Trojans have absorbed, however, it is probably wise to use him next year instead of this season which is pretty much over. The main question, however, is this: Has Brown privately decided that entering the transfer portal is best for him, or has he fully (personally) committed to USC for 2024? That is a question worth pondering with just two games left in USC’s regular season.

The Trojans still have to compete against Oregon Ducks and the UCLA Bruins.

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Raleek Brown is excited about what he can do as a wide receiver at USC

Lincoln Riley is making the bet that putting Brown in a more free-flowing position will unlock his talents. We’ll see.

We saw it happen so many times last season at USC: Raleek Brown, so obviously fast and talented, had trouble waiting for the hole to develop. Brown struggled to make the right cut at the right time and explode through gaps. Decision-making and timing weren’t where Brown or the USC coaching staff hoped they would be. Brown was indecisive and uncertain. That hurt USC in a number of situations.

Entering 2023, Brown is older and wiser, but the coaching staff felt that putting Brown in the backfield was not the best course of action.

Lincoln Riley has moved Brown from running back to wide receiver. Brown joins Duce Robinson as a player who was recruited to USC at one position (for Robinson, it was tight end) but is being shifted to wide receiver for the 2023 season. The obvious thought process is that at wide receiver, Brown doesn’t have to think about when or where to cut. He has a route tree and a more defined set of reads. Running freely in the open field could unlock his potential to a much greater degree.

As USC camp gets started, Brown is clearly excited about what’s in store for him and the Trojan offense this season:

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Raleek Brown, Duce Robinson listed as WRs on USC’s updated roster

A former running back and a former tight end are now listed as wide receivers. Lincoln Riley has ideas. #USC

The USC Trojans’ offensive roster has to be one of the most impressive in college football, especially with Caleb Williams returning at quarterback.

With Pac-12 media day behind us, we got an inside look at the new roster that was released on Friday night, and there were certainly some surprises.

One of the notable developments was Raleek Brown and Duce Robinson listed as wide receivers.

Raleek Brown emerged last season for the Trojans and entered the offseason as a polarizing weapon. However, with the addition of MarShawn Lloyd, the question remained exactly where Brown fits into the scheme. Yet, Brown was listed as a first-team preseason pick as a returner, which is a reflection of Brown’s immense potential.

Duce Robinson was the tight end who is also a baseball player, although he wasn’t selected in the 2023 MLB draft. 

Of course, a lot can change over the next month, but Brown and Robinson both being WRs isn’t what many were expecting.

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Raleek Brown named to preseason All-Pac-12 First Team as returner

Brown needs to justify his first-team selection with at least one long kick return this year. Three would be great. #USC

The big story from the release of the preseason All-Pac-12 teams was that USC’s linemen — especially the offensive linemen — were not given top-tier recognition. No USC offensive linemen made the first team, and no defensive linemen made either the first or second team.

The skepticism toward USC’s line play could not be any clearer or more obvious from the people who made these All-Pac-12 selections. To that extent, USC was not given a lot of respect in these picks.

However, one area where USC received more respect and deference than the facts on the ground indicate is on special teams. No, Eddie Czaplicki getting first-team recognition as a punter is not undue or undeserved. He was awesome at Arizona State. That selection was obvious and deserved.

Raleek Brown getting first-team recognition as a kick returner? That honor, to be candid, really wasn’t fully earned.

We know that USC special teams has struggled under Lincoln Riley, who has not hired a special teams coordinator. Mario Williams — not Raleek Brown — butchered a kick return which led to the safety which enabled Tulane to stun USC in the Cotton Bowl this past January.

Brown certainly has the potential to become a rock star as a kick returner. Let’s be clear about that. Brown has enormous upside as a player. No one would disagree with that claim. However, 2023 is a season in which the potential needs to be translated into reality and actualized production. Brown needs to uncork at least one very long kick return in a big moment to justify his first-team selection. If he can deliver several returns to the 50-yard line or plus territory in important situations, USC’s offense will have shorter fields to work with and will operate with less of a burden. It will certainly help Caleb Williams if he doesn’t have to go 80 yards all the time.

It’s time for Raleek Brown to reach the next step in his evolution. If he does, the Trojans will be in position to do something special in 2023.

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MarShawn Lloyd means USC should have fresh running backs throughout the 2023 season

Austin Jones was fresh for the UCLA and Notre Dame games last season. MarShawn Lloyd will enable Jones and Raleek Brown to remain fresh throughout 2023.

You surely have heard the news by now: The USC Trojans landed former South Carolina running back MarShawn Lloyd, who ran for 573 yards and 9 TDs this past season, while also gaining 176 yards on 18 receptions. MarShawn Lloyd is a former top-50 recruit in the 2020 class.

The 247 composite considered Lloyd the third-best player in Maryland, the fourth-best running back in the country, and the No. 33 player overall. He is from Delaware but traveled every day to DeMatha Catholic HS in Maryland when he attended high school.

USC’s running back room just got crowded with the addition of Lloyd. Quinten Joyner, A’marion Peterson, Austin Jones and Raleek Brown will all be featured on the depth chart for the Trojans in 2023.

If you remember how the 2022 sesaon unfolded, you know that Austin Jones played really well against UCLA and Notre Dame. He was fresh, having received few carries when Travis Dye was healthy.

Lloyd’s arrival means that with Jones and Raleek Brown already in the rotation, USC will be able to rotate running backs a lot so that no one gets overloaded. What happened in 2022 with Austin Jones being fresh for the final few games of the season in November should become a season-long reality. Everyone should be fresh throughout the season, because no one should be overextended in a running back room this deep. Lincoln Riley can spread around the carries and give defenses a lot of different looks.

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Raleek Brown’s big Cotton Bowl is a sign of things to come, and not surprising to his USC teammates

#USC knows that Raleek Brown, who shined in the Cotton Bowl, is going to bust out and get much better. This game was a springboard into spring ball and next season.

The USC Trojans played the Cotton Bowl without Jordan Addison and Travis Dye, so somebody was going to need to step up.

Brenden Rice dazzled with a career-best performance, and running back Raleek Brown made plenty of noise as he gave everybody a preview of what is to come in 2023.

Brown, the freshman, ran for 61 yards and a score on six carries and added two catches for 24 yards. On the surface, those don’t seem like eye-popping numbers.

However, Brown’s big plays were not surprising to his teammates.

Back in September, Ryan Kartje of The Los Angeles Times gave plenty of insight into Brown, and his teammates had already seen what he could bring to the field.

On Monday, Brown showed up on the big stage, and Trojan fans got a glimpse of what the running game might look like in 2023.

Here are some of Brown’s best plays and what his teammates said about him: