Lincoln Riley, USC Trojans High on 4-Star Quarterback Recruit Peyton Houston

After not signing a quarterback in the 2024 cycle, the Trojans landed five-star Husan Longstreet from nearby Corona Centennial (Calif.) in the 2025 cycle and hold a commitment from Lincoln-Way East (Ill.) four-star Jonas Williams in the 2026 cycle. 

USC has begun to make a push for a highly sought-after signal-caller in the 2027 cycle in Evangel Christian Academy (La.) four-star Peyton Houston, who picked up an offer on May 13. The Trojans are very particular on the quarterbacks they offer and so far, Houston is the only quarterback to receive an offer from USC in the 2027 cycle. 

Houston spent a couple of days on campus in April, where he got an in-depth look at the program and spent time hours with quarterbacks coach Luke Huard watching film. 

Houston, the No. 85 overall prospect and No. 8 quarterback in the 247Sports Composite Rankings, threw for 4,480 yards and 38 touchdowns, and added 690 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground as a sophomore last season. 

His recruitment will be an interesting one to follow over the next six months because of the Trojans pursuit of Folsom (Calif.) five-star quarterback Ryder Lyons in the 2026 cycle. Lyons will graduate in December, but he will take his LDS Mission immediately after and not enroll into the spring of 2027. 

USC has long been considered the favorites to land Lyons because of his familiarity with Riley and his offense, but since Williams’ commitment, other schools like BYU and Oregon have entered the picture. Lyons has been a frequent visitor at USC, including twice in April, for his own recruiting process, but also because his older brother, Walker Lyons, is a sophomore tight end for the Trojans. 

The five-star quarterback will take his official visit with USC this upcoming weekend, June 6, before announcing his decision sometime in July. It remains to be seen if the Trojans do end up taking two quarterbacks in the 2026 cycle, does that change their plans to pursue Houston. Riley is certainly not against loading up the quarterback room.

“The competition piece, number one is just make sure you always have it,” Riley said in March. “No matter who comes back or however you do it there always has to be competition … We should always have a really good quarterback room here at USC, so you want that competition and you want guys that are not afraid of it.”