Domani Jackson departure occurs right after Donte Williams’ move to Georgia
Domani Jackson and Malachi Nelson, two five-star prospects, are leaving USC. That stings. USC has fallen behind in recruiting for 2024 over the past several months. The Trojans were ranked in the top five at the end of June and were heading in the right direction on the trail, but they lost momentum in the summer and then lost even more ground when their 2023 football season didn’t pan out.
Now we are seeing the inevitable aftershocks of cutting ties with Alex Grinch and Donte Williams. Players who were recruited by Williams with the intention of playing for Grinch at USC are now in a very uncomfortable situation. Domani Jackson is a foremost example of this reality.
Donte Williams, as we all know, is a formidable recruiter who builds strong relationships with his recruits. Williams leaving for Georgia on Saturday being followed by Jackson’s transfer portal departure on Monday is not idle coincidence. Other USC players recruited by Donte Williams are bound to leave the program and enter the portal.
This might feel like a “sky is falling” moment for USC football, but it’s not that simple.
Let’s discuss this and other urgent issues during a busy and chaotic time for USC football:
THE USC PROGRAM IS NOT CRUMBLING NOW -- BECAUSE IT CRUMBLED IN OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER
With Domani Jackson and Malachi Nelson leaving, some people might think USC football is collapsing. That’s not true.
USC football collapsed on the field from October 14 (Notre Dame 48, USC 20) through November 18 (UCLA 38, USC 20).
What we’re seeing now are the aftershocks of that on-field collapse. The earthquake already occurred. Now USC is picking up the pieces. The recovery from the earthquake involves some highly-touted prospects leaving. It’s part of the damage and the costs of cleaning things up. It’s not fun, but it’s necessary.
DOMANI JACKSON LEAVING IS PAINFUL, BUT SOMETHING USC HAD TO KNOW WAS POSSIBLE
Everyone at USC knew that if Donte Williams left, Domani Jackson and other Donte recruits were bound to leave.
This was simply the cost of doing business.
THE REALITY OF COACHING AND RECRUITING
When a coach is great at both coaching and recruiting, players develop under that coach. When a coach is great at recruiting but not at coaching, players don’t develop unless other assistants can pick up the slack in terms of coaching.
With Alex Grinch on staff, neither Grinch nor Donte Williams sufficiently developed Domani Jackson. Losing a five-star player hurts, but USC had to clean out the coaches who weren’t developing players. This was a price the Trojans simply had to pay.
KOREY FOREMAN
Let’s remember that Donte Williams helped recruit Korey Foreman, who turned into a bust. The problem here is less about five-stars such as Domani Jackson leaving, and much more about Jackson — and others — not being coached well while at USC.
The coaches were part of the problem, not the solution.
DONTE WILLIAMS AT GEORGIA
Georgia is a great fit for Donte Williams because he frankly doesn’t have to coach very well to add value to Kirby Smart’s program.
Kirby himself and co-defensive coordinators Will Muschamp and Glenn Schumann are quality player developers. They can all coach. Donte Williams can be a recruiting ace, since he has other guys who can actually turn players into NFL prospects. This is a structure USC lacked. There was no elite defensive coordinator who could develop Domani Jackson.
THE REAL MISTAKE
USC did not make a mistake in letting Donte Williams go, which paved the way for Domani Jackson to hit the portal. The mistake was not firing Donte Williams and Alex Grinch one year earlier.
Imagine if USC and Lincoln Riley had made their current defensive coaching staff upgrades in December of 2022, not December of 2023.
We might be sitting here previewing USC’s College Football Playoff semifinal, or at least a New Year’s Six bowl game.
D'ANTON LYNN
D’Anton Lynn wasn’t able to convince Domani Jackson to stay after Donte Williams’ departure, but that shouldn’t be held against him. What matters is that USC now has a quality player developer as its defensive coordinator. The Trojans are an unstable program right now with all the roster and staffing changes, but D’Anton Lynn is going to create stability in the future with his level of performance.
MATT ENTZ
Matt Entz will also give USC more stability if he lives up to the billing as a linebacker coach, and also as a defensive assistant with a lot of experience he can give to 34-year-old D’Anton Lynn.
Again: Stability is currently not something USC football possesses, but these new defensive staffers are going to bring new stability into the program in the coming years.
DOUG BELK
If Doug Belk does a great job of coaching USC’s secondary in 2024, we are all going to wonder what might have been. We are all going to wonder how good Domani Jackson might have become if Belk, not Donte Williams, had been his main day-to-day coach, with Alex Grinch removed from the picture at USC.
ALEX GRINCH
Ultimately, Domani Jackson leaving under these circumstances — while immediately connected to Donte Williams bolting for Georgia — is fundamentally a product of Alex Grinch failing in 2023. If Lincoln Riley had been more aggressive in changing his defensive staff one year ago, we might not be talking about a Domani Jackson transfer portal exit.
NECESSARY PAIN FOR LONG-TERM GAIN
These are painful times for USC, and the Trojans have a lot of uncertainties to address. However, this pain is the continuing product of a failed 2023 season. Donte Williams had to go, even if it meant Domani Jackson entering the portal.
The good news is that Riley has finally found religion in terms of having elite defensive coaches on staff. The Trojans are doing things right — a year late, but better late than never.
SPRING TRANSFER PORTAL WINDOW
The final point to make here is a very important one: Lincoln Riley wanted to take his time finding the right defensive coaches. He didn’t want to rush his hires, even though USC’s season ended November 18. Riley did his homework and waited a few extra weeks to bring aboard key position coaches. Getting the right guys — guys who could coach well — was the priority.
As a result of taking his time to hire defensive staffers, Riley sacrificed a measure of leverage in the December transfer portal window. USC is not in the best position to land elite defensive prospects right now. However, not emphasizing the December portal window means USC is banking on making a run at players in the spring transfer portal window. That is where the Trojans will need to come up with several big pulls.
If they can, the 2024 team could turn out to be really good.
Right now, there’s a ton of turbulence at USC, but it’s all a necessary part of paying the price for the disastrous 2023 season. Good decisions have been made over the past few weeks in response to that failed season. The Trojans and their staff need to build their roster over the next several months. That will tell us how well the 2024 team can be expected to compete against a tough Big Ten schedule plus LSU and Notre Dame.
