Big game of “You take my GM, I take your player” going on, folks. When Chad Bowden stepped into the Trojan locker room, you could feel it—Lincoln Riley was about to cook. Coming off a shaky 7-6 season and with the “fire Riley” chants growing louder, the pressure was real. But here’s the plot twist: Bowden’s arrival did, in fact, flip the entire script. In a few months, the 2026 roster started to feel dangerous. Ranked No.1 by ESPN, Lincoln Riley and Bowden have managed to secure 13 different commits from the list of ESPN’s Top 300. Trojans HC and GM aren’t just reinforcing the trenches—they’re building a full-blown war machine. But even the mightiest of armies have a weak spot. Just like in the old Trojan War, there’s always an Achilles’ heel…

…And it looks like USC might’ve just handed their enemies the bow to strike it. “BREAKING: Class of 2026 DL Tiki Hola has Committed to Notre Dame, he tells me for @on3recruits,” Hayes Fawcett blasted on IG. This might just be one of the funniest recruiting twists we’ve ever seen.

Sure, Marcus Freeman lost some serious firepower after Bowden flipped, but if you thought he lost his swagger, think again! The man’s out here flipping recruits like it’s peak transfer season. H-ll, you don’t have to believe us. Just see what Tiki Hola had to say about Freeman and Co.: “Up to these last two visits, I had no idea. Both teams had been talking to me for a while and I knew was valuable to them… Notre Dame has done a great job recruiting me. Coach Freeman and what they’re doing with the program … they’re doing a really good job.”

And when you look beyond the 2025 season hype, this flip is a massive win for the Irish. See if there is anything that stood out during ND’s 14-2 conquest, its their defensive line. Remember what Riley Leonard had once said? “Organized chaos.” You snap the ball, and the next thing you remember is getting picked off out of nowhere. When that ball is snapped, you never know what you’re gonna get,” Leonard had remarked. And what is a better way to continue this tradition than by flipping a 4-star DL?

Hola slides right into this lineup like he was built for it. Ranked as the No.16 DT in the nation and the No.214 overall prospect in the 2026 class, the numbers speak for themselves. But if the rankings don’t convince you, how about this: at Bastrop, the big man racked up a monstrous 102 tackles—with 10 of them being straight-up tackles for loss.

In just 12 freaking games. 

If that ain’t talent, we don’t know what is…. “He’s capable of lining up inside as a 3, but also shifting out to the 4- or 5-techniques. He’s explosive off the line, super bendy. He has great arms and a powerful upper body,” Sam Spiegelman had confessed while talking about Hola’s recruitment profile.

This kind of raw explosiveness fits perfectly into Freeman’s high-octane, chaotic defensive scheme—it’s honestly a match made in heaven. But let’s not downplay USC either. Sure, they lost a massive prospect in Hola, but one flip doesn’t automatically kill their 2026 momentum. Lincoln Riley’s been stacking depth, and the machine is still very much running.

The Trojans’ ultimate plan to win the war

“I want people to know we’re coming. I want teams to know we’re coming in recruiting. We’re here, we’re going to be here for a very long time.” Just winning games ain’t enough anymore. You gotta leave a mark, and GM Bowden and HC Riley are locked in and ready to cash out big time.

If there is anything we understood following USC’s paper trail of 2026 class recruitment, it’s that they have got Cali on lockdown. “The reason why this place won a national championship back in 2005? If you look and do research, over 80 percent of the classes that were signed back then were from the state of California”—This was Bowden’s game plan, and he is following it down to the teeth.

One look at the 2026 class and you’ll find massive Cali prospects lining up and ready to go: Tomuhini Topui, Brandon Lockhart, Trent Mosley, Simote Katoanga. 4 stars all across the board. If this doesn’t hype up Trojans fans, then Riley’s recruitment war to win over Cali boy Deshonne Redeaux, sure will.

Against powerhouse programs like the Dawgs, Michigan, and even the Ducks, USC still found ways to snag Redeaux. So yeah, Riley lost Hola—but in the battlefield of recruiting, you win some, you lose some. But what really counts is holding on to your aces—and so far, Riley hasn’t dropped a single one.