Lincoln Riley just silenced the haters with huge recruiting wins over Deion Sanders and Brian Kelly

USC's recruiting cycle for the Class of 2025 has been a rollercoaster ride. But a rollercoaster ride that goes backwards, meaning you don't know whether it's about to go up or down. On Wednesday, the Trojans secured a commitment from 5-star 2025 DL recruit Jahkeem Stewart who was also considering LSU and Oregon — and snagged 3-star cornerback Alex Graham, who flipped to USC from Colorado.

Lincoln Riley and the Trojans have watched multiple high-caliber prospects flip from USC — including quarterback Julian Lewis, who is headed to Colorado — so to get some wins on National Signing Day will cause a sigh of relief to Trojans fans everywhere.

Stewart is from New Orleans, so it's an impressive job by Lincoln Riley to secure his commitment over his home state team LSU. The Tigers will still have a strong incoming class, but Stewart would have boosted that class likely into the top five. Instead, the Trojans get a huge win — and a much-needed one — after a highly disappointing 6-6 season.

Scouts rave about Stewart's athletic ability, and he should make an instant impact on the line for Lincoln Riley, whether he lines up at DL or on the edge.

Alex Graham flips from Colorado to USC

Although it doesn't have quite the same impact as a 5-star quarterback flipping like Julian Lewis, at least Lincoln Riley can say Deion Sanders didn't completely own him this recruiting cycle, as 3-star defensive back Alex Graham is headed to Southern California instead of Boulder next season.

Lincoln Riley has done a good job recouping after mass recruit exodus

Losing six top 100 prospects in one cycle is pretty absurd, so Lincoln Riley still finishing with a top 15-ish recruiting class is an admirable job. The class of de-commits from USC is loaded, though. That team by itself would probably be a top recruiting class in college football.