USC GM Chad Bowden discusses Trojans' No. 1 2026 recruiting class

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On Wednesday, USC football officially signed its top-ranked 2026 recruiting class. After largely sticking together for many months, at long last, the group is officially Trojans.

Much of the reason that USC was able to land the No. 1 class in the country was due to general manager Chad Bowden. Since the Trojans hired him away from archrival Notre Dame last winter, Bowden has taken USC recruiting to a level that the program has not seen since the Pete Carroll era.

In a recent interview with 247Sports, Bowden discussed the Trojans’ top-ranked class.

“Everything we do is intentional,” Bowden said. “The thought process this cycle was to go heavy on a high school class, to bring in a group we could build off of, and we were very strategic and heavy in our home state of California.

“We’ve got a great group we are fired up about. The main focus was to bring in the right kids that want to be here, and retaining the right guys that are already within these walls.”

With the class now officially signed, the work now falls on Lincoln Riley and the coaching staff. It is up to the Trojans to develop the talented players that Bowden is bringing in and turn the program’s recruiting wins into victories on the field.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Chad Bowden discusses USC football’s top-ranked recruiting class

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