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- Ever since Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC, the Sooners’ recruiting class has taken a hit
- A former commit, who flipped to Texas A&M, recently detailed the process and did not paint Riley in a great light.
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Lincoln Riley served as the head coach of Oklahoma football from 2017 to 2021. On November 28, 2021, the 38-year-old left Norman for the same position at USC.
Since that day, the Sooners’ recruiting class has been forced to reevaluate. Some of Riley’s former recruits at Oklahoma flipped to join him in Los Angeles and others moved on to other programs.
Among those who chose to play their college football elsewhere was five-star defensive lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy. The Lakeland, Florida-native stands 6-foot-3, 280 pounds and is considered the No. 11 over all recruit in the Class of 2022 and the No. 4 defensive line recruit in his class.
Needless to say, he is a big-time player. Brownlow-Dindy committed to Oklahoma in October and was considered a lock.
However, when Riley left to coach the Trojans, he re-opened his recruitment. Since then, he has signed with and enrolled at Texas A&M.
Part of that decision likely had to do with the bag that he was offered by the Aggies. A&M boosters reportedly spent a small fortune on its recruiting class and Lane Kiffin even addressed that notion recently.
In addition, Brownlow-Dindy’s flip had a lot to do with Riley’s departure.
He recently broke down his big flip with Rivals.com’s Adam Gorney. In the article, two quotes stood out.
Brownlow-Dindy said that it was not Riley leaving that rubbed him the wrong way, but how Riley did it.
“(Lincoln Riley) did what was best for him but we have lives, too,” he said. “It’s not about him leaving but it’s about how he left that bothered, not only me, but all the early enrollees.”
Brownlow-Dindy also spoke about false promises that Riley made to recruits.
” I wasn’t really expecting it and (Riley) made promises to us and we asked him, ‘Are you going to be there?’ And he said, ‘Yes, yes, yes,'” he said. “We believed him and all that type of mess and then we heard he was leaving. It was a letdown.”
This recount of Riley’s departure obviously does not paint him in a strong light. Part of how he acted and what he said is unavoidable.
Until the ink is dried on a new contract with a new school, it is hard for a coach to tell recruits that he is leaving. What if he didn’t?
But with that being said, Brownlow-Dindy is saying that Riley could have done a better job of handling the situation and that is completely fair. To make a promise to a high school recruit trying to make a decision on where to go to college, who wants to commit to play for a specific coach, only to have that coach leave, is difficult.