USC-Oregon recruiting battles carried a lot of weight in the Pac-12. Notice the word “carried.” Past tense. USC is moving to the Big Ten, and that is lifting the Trojans to a higher level of national visibility and prominence Oregon won’t have in 2024.
USC analyst Tim Prangley talked to us about the evolving dynamic in USC-Oregon recruiting:
“Oregon was the only Pac-12 school that consistently posed a threat to USC in recruiting,” Prangley told us. “Their early entry into the NIL game, state-of-the-art athletic facilities, and Phil Knight’s cornucopia of Nike uniform combinations made them a nuisance. However, all of that changed with USC’s commitment to football, which stemmed from their invitation to join the Big Ten Conference.
“Oregon’s Division Street, co-founded by Phil Knight and run by former Nike executives was very aggressive and helped Oregon to come out of nowhere and grab some big-name recruits with last-second meetings… infer what you like there. In just six months, USC has rebranded it’s NIL efforts from the ineffective BLVD to three major entities: The Tommy Group, The Conquest Collective, and the House of Victory. The House of Victory has recently been named by On3, along with Division Street, as one of the top 10 most ambitious NIL collectives so that gap, if any, is shrinking.”
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