Former Trinity League Rivals Become Teammates at USC

For the last four years, several USC Trojans recruits from the Trinity League battled each other for conference supremacy. But now, they will join forces at Southern Cal in hopes of bringing the program back to national prominence.

Nov 7, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Trinity League is widely regarded as the toughest conference in high school football, featuring prominent Orange County schools such as Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and Santa Margarita. 

And for the first time in the Lincoln Riley era, the USC Trojans made it a point emphasis to land recruits from a conference that is loaded with Power 4 talent every year. They signed eight in the 2026 recruiting cycle, which is more than they signed the previous four years combined, five. 

Nov 7, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

For many of the signees in the 2026 class, they grew up either playing with or against each other in youth football and then again in high school. But they are officially joining forces at USC with the early enrollees arriving on campus this week. 

Former Trojans Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Carson Palmer took over as the head coach at Santa Margarita in December 2024. In his first season at his alma mater, Palmer led them to their first state championship since 2011, and he did it with a trio of USC commits in four-star receiver Trent Mosley, edge Simote Katoanga, who transferred from JSerra, and three-star cornerback Jayden Crowder. 

Katoanga and Mosley helped kickoff a wave of commitments in the spring when they announced their pledges in February and March, respectively. Crowder was a late add to the class, picking up an offer in October and flipping his pledge from Cal later that month. 

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For years, Mater Dei had been a recruiting pipeline for the Trojans but all of that went away when legendary high school coach Bruce Rollinson retired following the conclusion of the 2022 season, Riley’s first season at the helm. And it was the last year the Trojans signed anyone from Mater Dei. 

But when general manager Chad Bowden arrived last January, he made it a priority to restore that pipeline. It started with four-star defensive lineman Tomuhini Topui, who flipped his commitment from Oregon in April and became a frequent visitor on campus for spring practice. 

Four-star linebacker Shaun Scott and five-star tight end Mark Bowman soon followed in May. And then four-star receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt flipped his commitment from Ohio State on National Signing Day. 

Sep 13, 2025; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stands on the sidelines during the first quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

The Trojans already have one St. John Bosco cornerback on the roster in Marcelles Williams, who started 11 games this season and they added another one in December in three-star Joshua Holland. The uber-talented defensive back committed in July 2024 and never wavered.

Talanoa Ili starred at Orange Lutheran for three seasons, before he transferred to the islands for his senior season. The four-star linebacker played on the same youth team as Mosley, Holland, Crowder, and three-star safety Madden Riordan. 

Even when Ili left Southern California, the Trojans continued to pursue him as if he were still in the state and made it a priority to bring him back home and eventually landed a commitment in June. 

It’s a group of signees that spent the past four seasons battling for Trinity League supremacy and will now head to Los Angeles to help restore USC to national prominence. 

Emphasizing Recruits in Southern California 

Dec 30, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches in the first half against the TCU Horned Frogs during the Alamo Bowl at Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

USC got off to a fast start when they landed commitments from a trio of local recruits in Riordan, four-star cornerback Brandon Lockhart and three-star receiver Ja’Myron Baker. 

And in effort to replicate the blueprint laid out by Pete Carroll in the 2000s, the Trojans were more aggressive this past cycle in their pursuit Southern California prospects than at any point in Riley’s tenure. 

In total they signed 18 recruits from Southern California and another two that have originally from this part of the state.