ESPN story details how USC landed No. 1 2026 recruiting class

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Last week, the USC football program officially signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for the 2026 cycle. The Trojans became the first non-SEC program to land the country’s top class in 18 years.

So how did they do it? A recent story from Eli Lederman of ESPN detailed the process that went into landing the group.

“In early 2024, USC’s head coach [Lincoln Riley] and athletic director [Jennifer Cohen] set out to find a general manager, eyeing a figure who could modernize the Trojans’ front office operation for college football’s money era,” Lederman wrote.

“Eventually, USC honed in on a brash, intensely energetic 30-year-old with front office pedigree and a grasp of the sport’s evolving landscape: Notre Dame’s Chad Bowden.

“USC lured Bowden away on a multiyear deal worth upward of $1 million annually, per ESPN sources. In less than a year, he’s constructed one of the nation’s deepest 2026 recruiting classes, restoring the Trojans — for now, at least — as a recruiting juggernaut.

“‘I knew what this place had the potential to be,’ Bowden said. ‘It had the potential to be something historic. There was a dynasty that could be built here.’

“Indeed, after reshaping its front office, adopting an ultra-aggressive approach to recruiting and taking fresh steps to repair local ties, Bowden, Riley and USC will enter the early signing period Wednesday with ESPN’s No. 1 recruiting class in the 2026 cycle. If that holds, it will mark the Trojans’ first No. 1 class since 2007, reaching back to the peak years of the Pete Carroll era.

“The price tag? Industry sources told ESPN that the Trojans’ incoming class will cost them north of $9 million, tied heavily to a string of front-loaded NIL contracts that powered a surge of 21 commitments from Feb. 1 to May 30 before the House settlement took effect in July.

“‘I think everyone wants this place to be great again,’ Riley said. ‘It feels like the stage has been set here and things are in place for a great run. I think we’re just seeing the beginning of that.'”

Landing the top-ranked 2026 recruiting class is the first step in getting the Trojans back to where they belong as a program. Now, it falls on Riley and the coaching staff to develop the elite talent that USC has brought in and turn USC’s wins on the recruiting trail into victories on the field.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: ESPN story shows how USC football landed top recruiting class

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