University Southern California Trojans
Players Mentioned
Practice Report: USC Football Names 2022 Team Captains
August 30, 2022 | Football
The four Trojan faces that will walk to the 50-yard line of the Coliseum for Saturday's coin toss against Rice are no longer shrouded in mystery. Offensive lineman Justin Dedich, quarterback Caleb Williams, linebacker Shane Lee, and defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu were voted team captains by their peers, head coach Lincoln Riley announced Tuesday (Aug. 30).
"It was by a pretty significant margin," Riley explained. "The team pretty clearly looks at those four as the guys they want to represent them. It's a big honor for those guys. That's something that none of them take lightly."
Dedich, a redshirt senior, has fought for playing time throughout his career as a Trojan. He enters the 2022 season with a "C" embroidered on his jersey and his sights set on starting at right guard.
"It's very cliche, but it's a 'trust the process' kind of thing," Dedich shared. "I bought into that and never felt disassociated from the team. I always felt like I was contributing."
While USC's captains vary in age, hometown and position group, the common link between them is consistency.
"Just everyday, regardless if you feel it or not, you've got to come, you've got to bring the juice," Dedich said. "It's just consistently bringing the energy and making sure that the team is up. Serving them, putting away trash, doing all the little things right."
The Trojans' echoed the same sentiment when describing defensive lineman Tuipulotu.
"He never misses anything," Riley said of the junior captain. "He always shows up and is always ready to compete. You can just tell our whole football team feeds off of him. So he's vitally important."
Riley highlighted how Tuipulotu, once a shy player on the team, is learning to use his voice as a leader. That's not the only growth that is expected from the defensive lineman this year, however.
"You watch some of his previous years' tape, he's an impressive guy. But he can play a lot better," Riley said. "If we take what he's done on Saturdays up to this point of what he can do, we think that there's a huge gap."
Your captains for the 2022 season… 🫡✌️ pic.twitter.com/5PiZZSHqJB
— USC Football ✌️ (@USC_FB) August 30, 2022
Notes from USC's Tuesday practice of Rice Week:
-
Lincoln Riley shared his scouting report on Rice, the Trojans' first opponent of the 2022 season.
-
"Good group. They've played some extremely competitive games. Defensively, it'll be one of the more experienced groups we play all year. A ton of returning starters, especially on the front and the back end."
-
"It's a quality football team coming in here and it's a first game. So we know the level of competition that we're gonna face and we're gonna have to be ready to play."
-
-
USC will releases a depth chart following Wednesday's practice, Lincoln Riley says.
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) August 30, 2022 - Riley noted how defensive back Max Williams is a versatile piece of USC's secondary:
-
"He's a guy that just both from a physical standpoint and from the mental side can handle it. We've repped him at nickel, we've repped him at both safety [positions]. He can really do most of it for us in the secondary, so it's been nice to have that piece to move around and work some different combinations."
-
-
Williams shared his experience cross-training at multiple positions throughout the spring and fall.
-
"I was in reps at safety throughout camp, just being able to know every spot in the secondary because the best five guys are going to play."
-
"I don't really have a preference. I just love being on the field, whether it's in the box, whether it's playing coverage, whether it's in the posts. I enjoy it all."
-
-
Despite just four captains named, Dedich shared that there are many more leaders on the Trojans' roster.
-
"Guys like [Andrew] Vorhees, [Malcolm] Epps, Calen Bullock - a young one. Alot of guys could have been captain … None of us are above one another. We're there for them. And they're there for us. So we've just got to be a player-led team, make sure we get this thing rolling for the season."
-
Tuesday's media availability:
New numbers to know:
-
Defensive lineman Nick Figueroa, who previously wore No. 50, now dons 99. The redshirt senior wore that number during his stint in junior college.
-
Defensive back Bryson Shaw, who transferred from Ohio State as a redshirt junior this summer, wears 27.
-
True freshman running back Raleek Brown sports the number 14.
-
Wide receiver Michael Jackson III, who previously wore No. 13, now wears the number 9.
-
Wide receiver Jordan Addison wears the once-retired No. 3, after Trojan legend Carson Palmer gave his blessing.
-
Redshirt senior defensive lineman Solomon Byrd, who transferred from Wyoming this summer, dons No. 51.
