Andrew Vorhees can sense the excitement just by walking around campus.

There is a palpable anticipation from students and faculty, people talking about USC football who haven’t paid attention in the past.

The Lincoln Riley era hasn’t even begun yet in earnest — the first game is Saturday against Rice at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — but there is already a feeling that USC is back. It is arguably the most talked about team in the country following Riley’s arrival from Oklahoma in the wake of USC’s four-win season a year ago.

“There’s an excitement, and you can just feel it,” Voorhees, a senior offensive lineman who has been a Trojan since 2017, told The Post. “It feels different in all the good ways.”

A brilliant offensive mind who has produced two Heisman Trophy winners, Riley led Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff three times in his five seasons as the Sooners’ head coach. He won the Big 12 on four occasions and compiled a 55-10 record. Now he arrives in Southern California looking to reestablish USC, which last won more than 11 games in 2008. The coach then was Pete Carroll, the team won the Rose Bowl and 11 players were drafted. That’s the bar for Riley. That’s what is expected eventually, which is fine with him.

“Like I said in my opening press conference, before even one of these players had come in, you don’t come to USC and you don’t come to Los Angeles to do things small. You got to set your sights big,” Riley said at Pac-12 media day. “We came here competitively to win championships, win them now and win them for a long time.”

Already, Riley and his staff have been impressive on the recruiting trail, landing elite transfers and high school prospects that in the past have spurned USC. He scooped up the top quarterback (Caleb Williams) and receiver (Jordan Addison) on the transfer market. They are part of a transfer class that also includes former Oregon running back Travis Dye, Oklahoma receiver Mario Williams, Colorado receiver Brenden Rice and Arizona State linebacker Eric Gentry, and was ranked No. 1 by 247Sports.com. The additions, and Riley’s track record, have led to a preseason ranking of No. 14 for USC, and the potential it could contend for the College Football Playoff.

“I think they are the team that embodies the 2022 college football world that we live in probably more than anyone,” ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “They had a splash coaching hire, and then here comes Caleb Williams, here comes Jordan Addison, here comes Travis Dye. All eyes are on Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley leaving Norman and going to, of all places, USC.”

Riley recently flipped Class of 2023 four-star cornerback Maliki Crawford, who was originally committed to UCLA, and the current class is ranked 13th nationally. That haul features two top-five prospects: quarterback Malachi Nelson and receiver Zachariah Branch.

That’s quite a departure from former coach Clay Helton’s 2020 class that was ranked 63rd, and was unable to keep five-star California kids like Bryce Jones (Alabama), C.J. Stroud (Ohio State), Justin Flowe (Oregon) and D.J. Uiagalelei (Clemson) home. It led former Trojan Matt Leinart to tweet: “Oregon is the new Usc in recruiting on the West Coast… back in my day no one dared to recruit So Cal. Now it’s open season and Oregon is hunting!”

Times appear, however, to be changing since the arrival of Riley.

“It is certainly a major step in the right direction bringing them back into the national picture,” said Adam Gorney, a national recruiting analyst for 247Sports.com. “I’ve talked to parents and kids who seem to love him and the staff. … They’ve definitely done a great job recruiting so far.”

Said Bruce Rollinson, a USC alum and the coach at powerhouse Mater Dei (Calif.) High School.: “Everybody that I have dealt with, from football ops to assistant coaches to Lincoln himself, everybody speaks the same thing, everybody is pulling the rope in the same direction. Nobody waivers or offers another opinion. It’s total loyalty to Lincoln Riley and his plan. That’s what I’ve seen.”

One change Vorhees has noticed already is the attention to detail under Riley. Everything matters, from practice to conditioning to simply attending class and tutoring sessions on time. There are repercussions for falling short of the expectations the coaching staff has put forth. There is an accountability sheet that results in extra conditioning work for any infraction. In the spring, every player started with a clean cardinal helmet that didn’t include the Trojans’ gold decal. The player received it only when he advanced to a certain point.

“I think it’s something we need,” Vorhees, an All-Pac-12 first-team preseason selection, said. “That’s something coach Riley has really been communicating and messaging to us, that all the little details matter. Nothing goes unseen. … Everything from an accountability perspective has totally changed.”

There is a belief that USC’s return to national relevance has already arrived, that before long it will be among the country’s premier programs again. Riley hasn’t shied away from expectations, telling his team he doesn’t believe that patience is needed. He expects to win big right away.

“This is not going to be a two-to-three year buildup,” Vorhees said, reciting Riley’s talking points to the team. “He’s expecting us to start fast and hit the ground running. We’re not going to use any crutches or any excuses.”