Lincoln Riley could swipe Oklahoma’s top 2027 QB target

Lincoln Riley already drew one Oklahoma quarterback west to USC with him, and now he's trying to get one to California before he even gets to Norman.

Rivals recruiting experts Steve Wiltfong and Sam Spiegelman on Monday logged an expert prediction for USC to land quarterback Peyton Houston, who is offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and the Sooners' top 2027 target. This new projection came less than two weeks after Rivals' Brandon Drumm predicted Houston to commit to OU.

However, the good news for Sooner Nation is that Wiltfong and Spiegelman's confidence level in their prediction was only 60%, and it's still extremely early in Houston's recruitment process. Houston likely won't even announce a commitment until next summer.

Peyton Houston predicted to commit to USC over OU

According to the 247Sports Composite, Houston is the No. 8 QB in the 2027 class as a consensus four-star recruit. He's also a top-100 overall player at No. 85. Rivals ranks Houston as the sixth-best QB in the class and the site's FutureCast still has Houston committing to OU with a 67% confidence level.

The Sooners will have to battle USC and basically all of college football for Houston after he lit it up as a sophomore last season at Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana. He turned heads after throwing for a national high school record 817 yards in a game.

Houston finished his sophomore campaign with 4,480 passing yards and 38 touchdowns compared to six interceptions in 12 games. His season passing yards total set a Class 5A record in Louisiana.

According to Parker Thune of Rivals, Arbuckle has informed Houston multiple times that he’s the Sooners’ top priority in the 2027 class. Houston is also the only 2027 QB that USC has offered so far.

Houston has already visited Norman six times between unofficial visits and camps. He hasn't reportedly been to USC yet since the Trojans offered in May.

Riley spent five seasons as OU's head coach before a nasty and abrupt breakup to go to USC and avoid the Sooners' looming move to the SEC. When Riley left, he took quarterback Caleb Williams with him. Williams eventually won the 2022 Heisman Trophy and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. USC also recently retired his No. 13 jersey.

Neither USC or OU have had any real success at the quarterback position since, though.

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