The Hotline is delighted to provide West Coast fans with a regular dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Phoenix-based national recruiting editor for 247Sports. He submitted the following report on Sept. 4  …

Recruiting panic season?

Week 1 is always good for a number of things, but the primary result of the competition is, well, panic.

Fans of teams that lost their season openers are convinced 0-12 awaits and that every prospect their school landed over the previous nine months is going to renege on his commitment.

But with the way recruiting operates in 2025 — with revenue sharing and NIL having more influence on decisions than a degree, the school’s location and the chance of immediate playing time — is there any reason to panic?

Not really.

Many recruiting deals are finalized before the season, and in some cases, money is exchanged already. As a result, de-commitments in the wake of poor on-field performances are fewer and further between.

So if you’re a fan of Stanford, UCLA, Colorado, Boise State or Oregon State, it may be a bit premature to worry that all those 2026 pledges will switch their commitments anytime soon.

Season for optimism?

On the flip side — see what we did there? — do victories in Week 1 mean your school is getting everyone on its wish list?

Probably not.

But where early-season success does help is with the younger prospects. While the 2026 recruits are mostly locked in, schools are trying to make an impression on the recruits in the classes of 2027 and 2028 who are attending games this fall.

And the teams out West who had the most impressive wins, based on far different metrics, were Utah and USC.

The Trojans played Missouri State, which just made the jump to FBS competition from the FCS, thus preserving USC’s legacy as the only major college program that has never played an FCS opponent.

Still, with some whispers that perhaps coach Lincoln Riley has lost his touch with quarterbacks — given the struggles with Miller Moss last season and the ho-hum showing by Jayden Maiava — USC fans assuredly were giddy over the offense on display in the Coliseum last weekend in the 73-13 victory.

Hello, Husan Longstreet, USC’s quarterback of the future.

On the other hand, Utah has always won with defense. But in the Utes’ best seasons under Kyle Whittingham, when they were winning Pac-12 championships, the offense did its part, too.

So what Utah did to UCLA under new offensive coordinator Jason Beck and quarterback Devon Dampier — they joined the Utes from New Mexico last winter — certainly caught the attention of several players out West who were impressed with the offense.

That it happened on the road, in front of a pretty good roster of visiting recruits, can only help Utah’s continued efforts.

Lyons in the Coliseum

We mentioned last week that the only 2026 committed prospect to keep an eye on with his visit schedule this fall is quarterback Ryder Lyons, the No. 1 recruit in California and a Brigham Young pledge.

Lyons is planning to serve a church mission after high school graduation and won’t enroll at BYU until Jan. ’27.

But with his older brother, Walker, on their roster, the Trojans will have an opportunity to welcome Lyons to several games. While he may be there as an interested sibling, USC won’t waste the visit — Riley and Co. will do their best to try to flip him.

That process could begin to unfold this weekend, when Ryder Lyons will be in attendance for USC’s reunion matchup with former coach Clay Helton and Georgia Southern.

Lyons’ teammate, Vlad Dyakonov, an offensive tackle who has committed to the Trojans, will be there, as well.

Bears back in Berkeley

With so much focus on the quarterbacks debuting in Pasadena, where Utah and Dampier beat UCLA and (Tennessee) transfer Nico Iamaleava, there was an impressive performance in Corvallis.

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We aren’t referring to Maalik Murphy, the former Duke starter who transferred to Oregon State. Rather, Cal left-hander Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele sparkled in his debut.

Now, the Bears return to Berkeley for their home opener against Texas Southern. And they’re expected to have a number of recruits in town.

None will be bigger than Giovanni Hodge, the class of 2027 defensive lineman from Grant High School in Sacramento, and Malakai Taufoou, the 2027 athlete from Serra High School in San Mateo.

Hodge is the top interior defensive lineman in Northern California in his class and plays for a Cal alum at Grant: former defensive back Syd’Quan Thompson.

His first scholarship offer came from the Bears — he’s a primary target for coach Justin Wilcox.

Taufoou has some Cal ties, as well. His uncle, Sione Taufoou, is a defensive analyst for the Bears after serving as the defensive coordinator at UAB. Taufooa is the top true defensive prospect in the Bay Area in 2027 and has offers from numerous schools.

But Cal has done well in the Bay Area and would love to keep Taufoou in the Golden State.

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