LOS ANGELES — Two weeks before the question would cease to be hypothetical, Lincoln Riley was asked whether he believed USC and its name, image and likeness operation, BLVD LLC, could, if necessary, work in concert with a third-party collective whose deep-pocketed donors dictate their own approach to NIL.
"That's the hope," Riley told The Los Angeles Times last month at Pac-12 Conference media day before adding a note of caution.
Not all collectives, the Trojans coach warned, were operating with the same agenda as the universities they represent.
