Do you think programs are being used as a bidding war and is one way to solve that do away with commitments and just have kids sign with schools whenever they make their decision?
"Well it would definitely change that, because yeah, that's absolutely going on. And the hard thing right now is you don't, you're living in a world where you don't even necessarily know everything out there, like what's true and what's not. A kid says, 'Well, I was offered this.' You have no way of verifying that. You have no way to know if it's true. We've had examples where it probably is true, we've had plenty where we've found out that was not true at all. And so we've talked long about is there, I think the idea that you have there's definitely some positives to that, and I think there also potentially could be some negatives as well, which is probably the same with any solution. But we've talked long about is there some sort of situation where schools would be required to share publicly what their offer is to a kid to eliminate some of the smoke and mirrors and all that that is going on. Because there's so much of that right now. Yeah, we're kind of all living in the in-between right now, and that's what it is and you've got to understand it, you've got to embrace it. You can't get too high or too low about it. You've just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep making the next best decision you can for your place, and that's been the mentality we've tried to create with it."
Riley also talked about how the staff is addressing future revenue sharing potential with recruits:
"Oh no, we're definitely talking about it and have been for a long time. I mean, it's here, it's coming in some form or fashion, we know that. It's I think frustrating for everybody to still not quite have all of the different parameters laid out for us when both schools and players and families and all that are having to make decisions based on, essentially, information that we don't fully have. We've got an idea. And it does, it puts you in positions in where, do you want to sit here and guarantee things to people that you don't know, or do you want to say what you think you should say to get them to come to school? We're seeing a lot of different instances of that across the country, so I think at times like this, I feel like we've been aggressive in terms of what we know but haven't compromised the values and the things we feel are important not just to signing kids but developing kids and having the right culture and character within this program. That's important to us, I know it's important to the people here at USC, and that's not something we're going to compromise. But we are going to be aggressive, and our administration and all that has certainly backed that. I feel like we, given the current circumstances, I feel like we have a very settled viewpoint on the appropriate amount of aggressiveness while not compromising what we want to do here long-term. Because there's long ranging impacts to everything we're doing right now, and a lot of times the world gets so fixated on exactly what's happening right now in this minute, and these are things that you look back on years down the line and you can't walk back. So I feel like we've got a good handle on it, a good feel for where we feel like we should be, and we'll continue to be aggressive where we feel like we can."
And his message to recruits amidst a tough season:
"I think you just call it like it is. The recruits that understand and see, I think they do see the progress and they do see how close this team is. And the real elite competitors look at it and say, 'Gosh this team's been that close, and if our class can come in here and add a boost to this and make this better, we can be the ones to help this thing over the edge.' I think the great ones always see the opportunity, and I do think recruiting in general, especially when you have a year like ours that hasn't obviously went the way that we wanted in the last several weeks, you find out pretty quickly who's about that and who's really able to take on the head-on challenge. And I think honestly, I haven't been through many years like this, but at times like this it's sometimes even easier to evaluate who's all in with you. Which can be, with all the different things happening in the world of recruiting with college football right now can maybe sometimes be a little bit tougher to discern between that. I think the real ones see exactly what we're doing and are very committed to it.
"I think we're all in a time now with this early, early signing period that a lot of volatility that we're used to seeing in maybe mid-December the last few years is going to start happening and you're seeing it happen all over the country. We're going to stay steady, stay the course. We know the kind of people and players we want to bring in here, and that's what we're going to keep doing."
