Former Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley Responds To Transfer Portal Accusations

Lincoln Riley shocked the college football world this past November, leaving his perennial playoff contending Oklahoma Sooners for the head coaching job at USC.

And like clockwork, many of his former Sooner playmakers joined in the exodus, including star freshman quarterback Caleb Williams and young talented wideout, Mario Williams.

With that type of exodus, questions began to arise surrounding Riley's methods of making over USC's roster, and whether or not he actively poached players from his former team to come to play for him in Los Angeles.

And during a recent interview with Colin Cowherd, Riley responded to those questions.

"We didn’t take players from Oklahoma,” Riley told Cowherd. “We took players from the transfer portal. Those players and their families had to make a decision to either stay at that university, just like any other player has to make, or to enter the portal where then they can be recruited by anybody in the country. That’s up to those players and their families and we have nothing to do with that."

Following Riley, of course, would have been a natural choice for the players that he recruited to Norman either way.

After all, he was the one that they signed up to play college football for from the beginning. And given his track record, most of those players had already been successful with him as their coach.

"Once a player gets into a portal where they are open to any school in the country, we would be crazy not to take a look at and try to help our football team," Riley said. "Then on top of it for me, maybe the more emotional tie for me is these are guys that we recruited. We got to know their families, we were part of the entire process."

Both Caleb and Mario Williams will now head to Los Angeles where Riley's high-flying offense will surely be a hit in the wide-open Pac 12.

Meanwhile, a third Oklahoma transfer, defensive back Latrell McCutchin, will also likely figure into the starting lineup for the Trojans.

"We are certainly excited to get those guys here along with all the other players. It’s literally players in a portal. These are guys that we feel like can come into USC and help us get this program to where it needs to be.”

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