USC legend Matt Leinart loves what he is seeing from his alma maters

USC is performing the way that it should. The change in personnel and reshift of focus are already starting to see returns for a program that appears to be back to the heights that it has traditionally always been at.

Overcoming the obstacles that were placed by the NCAA was never going to be an easy feat. Taking a snippet from the latest of former Trojan Matt Leinart, however, and things are looking more and more promising.

In a post from Leinart on X, the Heisman Trophy winner noted the No. 1 recruiting class for the class of 2026 and pointed out that the So Cal talent is flowing back to USC again.

What prompted this post in particular was the news of tight end Mark Bowman joining the 2026 class. A current high schooler at Mater Dei, he is someone that a lot of programs expressed a ton of interest in and wanted to see him join their school.

Bowman has instead decided to stay home and link up with this Trojan roster that coach Lincoln Riley continues to assemble. The second part of Leinart's comments speaks to the Mater Dei connection being reestablished.

Needed pipeline for USC coming back strong

A Mater Dei product himself, watching the best local talent not only consider USC but then also seal a commitment is what all Trojan fans and supporters are excited to see again.

For top schools throughout the country, they need to be able to draw a radius around their immediate area and make it known that other schools cannot simply come in and recruit within the given radius. It needs to become more of an assumption, as it was when Leinart made his decision, that if other scouts or coaches come to So Cal and look at adding notable talent to their rosters, it will be a waste of time because those players will all be wearing the Cardinal and Gold.