The plan had been in place for nearly two years, Lincoln Riley zeroing in on Julian Lewis as his quarterback in the 2025 recruiting class.
The coach rarely offered more than one quarterback at a time. So when Lewis committed in August 2023, it gave USC a certain stability in its upcoming class, a five-star centerpiece to build around, even as the class threatened, at various points, to come apart around him.
Yet in recent weeks, it had become clear those long-held plans — for Lewis and USC — were changing.