Three-Point Stance: Race for No. 1, defending Lincoln Riley, WR flips

Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has thoughts on the fight for the No. 1 recruiting class in 2024, he offers a defense – get it? – of USC coach Lincoln Riley and he looks at five potential elite wide receiver flips in today’s Three-Point Stance.

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The battle for the No. 1 recruiting class in 2024 could literally not be closer.

And I don’t mean literally like some people misuse it and mean something else: Georgia has 2,985 total points and Ohio State has 2,984 points heading into the final stretch before the Early Signing Period.

It cannot be closer.

The final touches will be interesting here and might even favor the Buckeyes since Georgia already has 28 commitments although it is working on JUCO four-star defensive end Brien Taylor, four-star athlete Kamron Mikell and NC State WR commit Terrell Anderson.

But Ohio State has only 22 pledges and the Buckeyes have a longer list to close out the class with No. 1 offensive lineman Jordan Seaton, recent Northwestern commit Gabe VanSickle (read the tea leaves there), four-star Florida commit Amaris Williams, Nebraska DE commit Carlon Jones, Minnesota DB pledge Koi Perich and Missouri LB commit Nicholas Rodriguez still on its wish list.

A Big Ten program has never won a team recruiting title dating back to 2002. Ohio State might get it done this cycle with a big close.

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I’m never one to hold back criticism of multi-millionaire coaches who are only paid to win football games but the backlash against USC coach Lincoln Riley over the past few weeks has his epic – and unreasonable – proportions.

ESPN talking head Paul Finebaum called it a “complete disaster”, that Riley should “pack up”, that he doesn’t “see what his path is moving forward" and the coup de grace: “Maybe you’re just a total fraud as a coach.”

Los Angeles-based talk radio host Petros Papadakis said: “Lincoln Riley looked like an outsider who understands nothing about SC versus UCLA coaching a team of primarily mercenary transfers to pretend like they care about playing for USC or in the city of Los Angeles.”

Even former Florida coach Dan Mullen broke coach-bro code by asking rhetorically on X: “Are we sure that they have the right coach on the hot seat in LA.”

No one disagrees that Riley deserves a tremendous amount of blame for USC’s highly disappointing 7-5 season. The defense was abysmal, almost comically bad at times and Riley has to take more of a hand in rectifying that, something he’s seemed resistant to do.

The offensive line play has to improve, too, or the next USC quarterback after Caleb Williams - especially against Big Ten defensive fronts - will be spending time in the ICU. There is a lot to fix.

But overnight, Riley did not become a dunce. This is still someone who won nearly 85 percent of his games at Oklahoma. USC still went 11-3 last season. NFL coaches still visited Riley to learn his offense so they could implement parts of it in the pros.

In his time as a head coach, Riley has won 80 percent of his games. Pete Carroll won 83 percent of his games at USC.

There is a lot to fix especially on defense and Riley is certainly not blameless at all. The buck stops with him. But the rhetoric over the last week that Riley is a huckster and someone who should be on the hot seat is almost as outlandish as the talk that Ohio State should fire Ryan Day if he loses to Michigan for a third-straight time on Saturday.

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Inevitably, there are going to be flips coming as signing day gets closer. Wide receiver is one position in the 2024 class that could see some movement and while none of these are guaranteed, it’s worthwhile to monitor in the closing weeks. Here are five I’m watching:

Jeremiah Smith: I’ve been told numerous times in numerous ways that something extreme would have to happen at Ohio State for the five-star receiver to consider others – mainly Florida State – in a flip situation. Basically, what people are saying is if Brian Hartline leaves Columbus then that would be something to watch. Crazier things have happened but with former South Florida Express teammates Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss, plus Smith’s relationships outside of Hartline in Columbus, it still looks very good for the Buckeyes.

Cam Coleman: The high four-star receiver from Phenix City (Ala.) Central has been committed to Texas A&M since July 4 but now coach Jimbo Fisher is gone and while Auburn finished in second place the first time around, the Tigers have never given up and reportedly had Coleman back on campus Monday. The rumor is Coleman wanted to join coach Hugh Freeze for his radio show but because of compliance, wasn’t allowed. Auburn has been in this from the beginning and the idea of Coleman being the receiver to help turn that offense around, the Tigers are absolutely a contender here.

Gatlin Bair: The speedy four-star receiver picked Boise State over Michigan and others in August and one of the biggest reasons was because of his relationship with coach Andy Avalos and position coach Matt Miller. But now Avalos has been fired and Miller’s future with the Broncos is up in the air with a coaching search going on. I asked Bair where things now stand for him in recent days and he didn’t have much to say other than he was still thinking things through.

NiTareon Tuggle: There were rumors earlier this fall that Tuggle might be on the verge of decommitting from Georgia and flipping somewhere in the Midwest but that never materialized. That chatter has still not fully subsided as Tuggle transferred back to Nappanee (Ill.) Northwood from Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy and has had a phenomenal season with 86 catches for 1,290 yards and 17 touchdowns. Maybe Tuggle is waiting until closer to signing day or maybe he’s locked back in with the Bulldogs, but it’s something to watch.

Xavier Jordan: The four-star receiver from Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon has been committed to USC since May 1. But after a recent visit to Utah, the Utes look like a very strong contender in his recruitment and one wonders if the Trojans’ struggles this season could be playing a factor here as well. I’ve been told it’s down to USC and Utah for Jordan but he’s also been seen wearing Arizona gloves at games this season.