{"id":28034,"date":"2026-08-05T02:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28034"},"modified":"2026-08-05T02:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:56:38","slug":"uscs-lincoln-riley-says-eligibility-rule-will-benefit-freshmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28034","title":{"rendered":"USC&#8217;s Lincoln Riley says eligibility rule will benefit freshmen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2FCOMP_303e6b.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>To play the freshmen or not to play the freshmen?<\/p>\n<p>A dilemma that\u2019s confronted college football coaches for an eternity won\u2019t be a question facing <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/28\/sports\/usc-lincoln-riley-not-hot-seat-engulfed-flames\/\">USC\u2019s Lincoln Riley<\/a> anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow,\u201d Riley said Tuesday, \u201cit\u2019s just play the guys who deserve to play.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>College football\u2019s new eligibility rule will allow Lincoln Riley to fully unleash his top-ranked recruiting class.  <span class=\"credit\">IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The NCAA\u2019s new five-in-five rule eliminates redshirt seasons and gives all players five seasons of eligibility, with rare exceptions. That means promising freshmen who might have been used sparingly in the past \u2013 players could once participate in up to four games and preserve a redshirt season \u2013 can now be deployed freely.<\/p>\n<p>Might as well, since they\u2019re going to have the same amount of eligibility left regardless.<\/p>\n<p>The new rule is perfectly timed for USC given that the Trojans can now fully unleash their <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/02\/sports\/usc-freshman-class-ranked-no-1-in-the-country\/\">top-ranked freshman class<\/a> of 35 high-end prospects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny opportunity that we get a chance to play these guys, however it comes out,\u201d Riley said, \u201cyou love the fact to be able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Freshman Kayden Dixon-Wyatt could give USC\u2019s wide receiver room a big boost this upcoming season. <span class=\"credit\">Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Among the freshmen who should contribute heavily are tight end Mark Bowman and wide receivers Trent Mosley and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt. Others who could contend for playing time include defensive end Luke Wafle \u2013 the nation\u2019s No. 1 recruit \u2013 and five-star offensive lineman Keenyi Pepe.<\/p>\n<p>While they\u2019re all so talented that they likely would have played regardless of eligibility rules, at least there\u2019s no need for the headache of making contingency plans for possible redshirt seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not sitting there having the same discussions like before where it was, well, how many games do we think he\u2019s going to play and are we trying to do this redshirt?\u201d Riley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Those plans often got discarded anyway, Riley said, because of unforeseen circumstances. <\/p>\n<p>Riley recalled having multiple in-game discussions with players where they had to weigh the benefits of participating in a handful of plays at the end of games as a tradeoff for not playing the rest of the season because they would burn their redshirt.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Freshman Mark Bowman could be a nice redzone target for USC QB Jayden Maiava. <span class=\"credit\">Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The new eligibility rules could also benefit someone like wide receiver Ethan \u201cBoobie\u201d Feaster, a freshman who just turned 17 in May. In seasons past, Feaster \u2013 part of a small group of players who did not participate in <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/03\/sports\/lincoln-riley-usc-trojans-opened-spring-practice-on-tuesday\/\">spring practice<\/a> \u2013 would be a strong candidate to redshirt.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it\u2019s go time, provided he\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n<p>One of his coaches said that might be the case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a very mature kid for his age,\u201d wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons said, \u201cand I think he\u2019s adjusting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wide receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/27\/sports\/usc-football-targets-defense-in-nine-man-transfer-portal-class\/\">Terrell Anderson<\/a>, a transfer from N.C. State, went a step further, predicting that Feaster would be a freshman All-American.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s got that \u2018it\u2019 factor,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cBoobie Feaster, he\u2019s live.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Riley suggested that the new eligibility rules would have a massive impact on roster construction now that players can contribute for five seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you project out,\u201d Riley said, \u201cthose are things you certainly have to be aware of because what you\u2019re recruiting and targeting in the future classes is definitely going to be affected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Mosley is among a handful of USC players who were double holdbacks \u2013 meaning they were previously held back a grade twice for development purposes \u2013 Riley said he didn\u2019t think that should impact their eligibility under the new rules. His staff continues to seek clarification on the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur belief is,\u201d RIley said, \u201cif they\u2019re five-for-five when they come out of high school, they ought to be five-for-five\u201d once they arrive in college.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To play the freshmen or not to play the freshmen? A dilemma that\u2019s confronted college football coaches for an eternity won\u2019t be a question facing USC\u2019s Lincoln Riley anymore. \u201cNow,\u201d Riley said Tuesday, \u201cit\u2019s just play the guys who deserve to play.\u201d College football\u2019s new eligibility rule will allow Lincoln Riley to fully unleash his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/COMP_303e6b.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}