USC will have more than a football game on its hands when San José State comes to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 29. Lincoln Riley and the Trojans are also set to welcome a wave of recruiting visitors, and one of the biggest names on that list is four-star athlete Zion Anderson.
Greg Biggins of Rivals confirmed on Aug. 21 that Anderson will be on campus for the opener. For USC, it’s a notable early swing with a rising 2028 recruit from Long Beach Poly, a school that has long mattered to the Trojans.
Anderson already sounds comfortable with USC. In his conversation with Biggins, he made clear that the relationship with the staff has been building for a while.
“I’ve been to USC a lot and have a good relationship with the coaches,” Anderson said to Biggins. “Chad Savage (WR coach) is the coach who offered me, and we’ve had a lot of great conversations. It’s not just about football; he asks about my family and academics too."
That connection matters as USC keeps pressing hard into Southern California recruiting. If the Trojans can land Anderson, it would be another meaningful step in rebuilding ties with Long Beach Poly and could mark the first Poly signing for Riley during his time as USC coach.
The program has had its chances with Jackrabbits talent before. Four-star linebacker Dylan Williams briefly committed to USC in 2022 before flipping to Oregon in the end. Five-star cornerback Donte Wright also spent time as a Georgia pledge before winding up in Miami’s loaded 2027 class.
USC’s history with Long Beach Poly is deeper than those near-misses, though. JuJu Smith-Schuster is one of the more recent Jackrabbit standouts to make his name with the Trojans, and the addition of general manager Chad Bowden has helped USC reestablish local relationships under Riley. That gives the Trojans another opening with a player like Anderson.
He’s more than just a receiver, too. Anderson brings speed, burst and versatility, showing the kind of juice that can stretch a defense vertically and create problems after the catch.
On offense, he can run past defenders deep or make people miss on screen passes. On defense, he has the backpedal, ball awareness and instincts to turn a play into a pick-six.
That kind of multi-use talent fits the Long Beach Poly mold, and it would also give USC’s 2028 quarterback pledge Trey Wright a dangerous new target to work with.
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But making double-home uniforms a routine habit across college football would risk turning a special wrinkle into a gimmick. The NFL learned as much during its Color Rush experiment, where color-on-color matchups sometimes looked fresh and sometimes just looked awkward, and thats the caution here for USC fans who know the rivalrys aesthetic is part of the event. What makes USC-UCLA stand out is that it is not everywhere, and college football is usually better when it leaves a few traditions alone. [Read more 🡒]
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For USC, the appeal is obvious: Williams is expected to play a significant role right away in a unit that needs difference-makers. The catch is just as obvious, though no less important. His value to the Trojans hinges on health, and that makes his availability one of the quieter but more consequential storylines as USC tries to stabilize its defense and turn a promising addition into a real asset. [Read more 🡒]