LOS ANGELES — There was little convincing involved, Lincoln Riley asserted last week, in conversations with his receivers to stay at USC.

This, after all, was the program that had produced Michael Pittman in recent years. And Amon-Ra St. Brown. And Drake London. And this was the head coach, in Riley, that had orchestrated pass-heavy attacks dating back to Oklahoma with future NFL talents: Dede Westbrook, CeeDee Lamb. There was “no better place” in the country, Riley told media last week, to play receiver.

“Every player is going to look at their own situation,” Riley said last Thursday, after a couple of prominent USC wide-receiver departures to the transfer portal, “and decide if they see that as a fit. And so, you try not to get too attached to it. It’s just the world that we’re in right now.”

Since the transfer portal window opened a week ago, however, three of USC’s top five receivers — Kyron Hudson, Duce Robinson and Zachariah Branch — have now departed, a blow to both the future of Riley’s offense and USC’s track record of retaining recruiting talent. Branch, in particular, was the crown jewel of Riley’s first full recruiting class at USC in 2023. But on Tuesday, both he and brother Zion, a sophomore safety and former four-star recruit, announced on social media they were entering the portal.

“While this wasn’t an easy decision,” receiver Branch wrote Tuesday on Instagram, “I’m looking forward to what the future holds and am excited for the new opportunities ahead.”

Just two years later, five of USC’s top seven recruits in the class of 2023 have now opted for the transfer portal: Zachariah Branch, Robinson, and running back Quinten Joyner in this 2024 cycle, and quarterback Malachi Nelson and linebacker Tackett Curtis leaving in 2023. Even more drastic: all of their top five recruits in Riley’s initial class of 2022 have transferred, with Zion Branch joining long-departed Domani Jackson, C.J. Williams, Raleek Brown, and Fabian Ross.

There’s no good outlook in such a development for USC, either signaling coaches’ initial evaluations of prospects didn’t always hit or that a slew of top home-grown talent has been increasingly unsatisfied with their development in Riley’s program. Receiver Branch’s decision, in particular, stings. An All-American returner as a freshman, he seemed poised for a true sophomore breakout in 2024, after an offseason of speed training with USC’s track and field team and refining his IQ in the passing game.

“I think he’s done a really good job in honing in on becoming more — not just a speed guy, but a more complete receiver,” Riley said of Branch before the season.

Those developments never quite materialized in a sophomore season in which Branch racked up 47 catches — tied for the team lead — but didn’t find a consistent foothold as a top downfield option for USC. He finished with 60-plus yards in a game only twice. At midseason, his kick-return duties were given to fellow sophomore receiver Makai Lemon, with Riley saying the goal was to let Branch “zero in” on punt returns.

“I feel like I’ve been, shoot, I’ve been the same person every day,” Branch said in late November, asked how tough the season had been on him. “I feel like it really hasn’t been any toll on me mentally, because I know who I am as a person, and what I can do every time I step on that field.”

He’ll do it for another program now, and USC is suddenly short on receivers in the midst of a critical transfer portal window. Sophomores Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane are all that remain, for the time being, from the Trojans’ top pass-catching options in 2024.

“Gang wtf,” Lane wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, quote-tweeting a post about Branch’s departure.

Four-star receivers Tanook Hines and Romero Ison are joining USC’s roster as part of the program’s 2025 recruiting class, along with three-star Corey Simms. USC, too, is hosting Purdue transfer Jaron Tibbs for a visit this weekend, and is in the final four schools for Tulsa transfer Joseph Williams, according to Williams’ representation Black Swan Management.

Still, any additions won’t fully patch the wound of losing Branch, a true game-changing weapon whose potential never fully materialized in cardinal-and-gold.