Players Mentioned
Lincoln Riley and USC Football Gear Up for an “Elite” Summer in Preparation for 2023 Season
April 20, 2023 | Football
Head coach Lincoln Riley held one final spring press conference Thursday (April 20), to wrap up USC's 2023 spring camp. The coach spoke to the media several days after the football team's Spring Game in the Coliseum and shared his evaluation of the day, highlighted standouts from camp, and previewed what's next for the program.
News & notes from head coach Lincoln Riley's final press conference of spring:
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Riley shared his overall thoughts on USC's Spring Game after having time to evaluate the team's performance on film:
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"There was some good, some bad, some in between, I think on both sides," Riley said.
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Riley described the Trojans' first-team offensive line as "pretty solid" and mistake-free on Saturday and highlighted certain standouts on USC's second team:
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"I thought Elijah Paige really played well," Riley said. "Cooper [Lovelace] did a nice job. Mason Murphy did a nice job. He bounced back and forth a little bit between both [tackle spots], but there were some good things in the run game."
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The head coach also provided his evaluation of how USC's defensive fared on Saturday:
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"We got in the backfield quite a bit. We had a couple chances to get the guys down in the backfield that we missed," Riley said. "Obviously, we made a few of them, had some TFLs and were pretty active at times."
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"I thought we missed a couple of tackles, especially a couple of the runs that got out," Riley continued. "Missed a few tackles that we needed to make, but there were also some really good open field tackles and some really good tackling on display."
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Riley shared how USC held more "live periods" during practice this spring, which he believes was evident in Saturday's Coliseum finale:
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"You could tell it's good for obviously both sides, but we tackled a lot defensively this spring," Riley explained. "Even on days that we weren't allowed to go full contact to go to the ground, there was some type of tackling drill every single day of spring, and often more than one. And I thought the results of that were positive and it's helping us as ball carriers too."
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Ethan White, an offensive line prospect from Florida, was set to transfer to USC this offseason after signing a National Letter of Intent with the university. Riley confirmed Thursday that White will not play at USC due to an injury that puts his football career in jeopardy:
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"There's football and then there's also long-term health and we understand guys have got to make those decisions and the best decisions for themselves," Riley said. "So disappointed for that, but that's unfortunately part of this game."
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Riley also confirmed that offensive lineman Courtland Ford has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. The head coach shared that USC will likely hit the portal to add more depth to its offensive line room:
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"We're certainly going to look at bringing a guy or two in here. There's no question," Riley said. "That's an important position. Obviously we're bringing in some freshmen that we're really excited about but those guys are true freshmen. And when you lose essentially two older guys that you expected to have on the roster and all of a sudden they're not going to be there, it's something that has to be addressed and we're going to try to get it addressed here in the next several weeks."
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Redshirt sophomore Miller Moss is "the second guy right now" on USC's quarterback depth chart, Riley stated Thursday.
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"Miller's really progressed and I think still a lot of room for growth but he has really improved physically and I think that's been apparent to everybody in the program," Riley said. "He's throwing the ball better, he is moving better and he's very confident in his knowledge of the system and where to go with the ball and what to do."
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"I thought he had a really good spring. He led the guys, he got a chance to get a lot of good work with some of the [first team] coming out of spring, which was really good," Riley said. "I thought he played pretty well in the spring game. Kind of does what he does. He moves offense. He's efficient. He puts the ball where it's supposed to be. Makes very few mistakes and has really learned and owned the player he is and what's going to make him successful."
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Riley also provided his thoughts on true freshman Malachi Nelson's first camp as a Trojan:
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"I give Malachi a lot of credit because a lot of guys with some of the physical limitations he had this spring, a lot of guys would've maybe tapped out or tried to save face and not even taken the reps and he started spring football without having thrown a football in months, which is not ideal," Riley said.
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"I think he understood the bigger picture that even though he wasn't physically in a great place, for him just to get the reps and have to communicate and go through it was more important," Riley continued. "He learned, he grew a lot. He started to throw the ball towards the end of spring a little closer to what he's capable of. He's still certainly not 100% but really improved in communication, getting more comfortable. And I think he'll have a very clear picture on what he needs to do better."
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"Malachi's going to be a really good player. He'll get a lot better," Riley added.
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Sophomore Raleek Brown was limited this spring due to an injury he suffered but has the potential to have bigger responsibilities on the field next season, according to Riley.
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"He had to miss seven or eight practices in the middle [of camp]," Riley explained. "He had just gotten back off of a soft tissue injury and so that stunted it a little bit. We probably planned to do a little bit more with him but given that he missed essentially half of spring, we decided to just focus in on some of the perimeter work and some of the receiver work."
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"It was good to really kind of coach him up on the perimeter and really kind of focus our work there," Riley added. "I think he rapidly approved his skillset and the understanding of how to play out there well versus maybe just doing one or two things out there like we did with him last year."
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Riley highlighted the work USC's early enrollees did this spring during their debut as Trojans:
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"It's a pretty good group. It is," Riley said. "This group's got a chance to do some pretty special things around here if they stick together, keep working and approaching it the way they are. I wouldn't trade them for any others. I can tell you that."
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The head coach also highlighted the work of USC's edge rushers, including Sam Greene, Jamil Muhammed, and Romello Height:
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On Greene: "He was one of the surprises of spring. Not necessarily that he would play well, but we recruited Sam thinking probably would be on the field as a defensive end, 3-technique. And when he came in, we got a chance to obviously see kind of where he was from a body weight standpoint. You got to really see him athletically. And he ended up being a little bit better fit for us at rush, which honestly, again, was a little unexpected."
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On Jamil Muhammed: "Jamil really had an impactful spring. He was in the backfield a lot. He's a tough matchup on the edge and I think will do nothing but continue to improve. But he had an impactful spring."
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On Romello Height: "Obviously we're excited to get Romello back. He's coming off his shoulder surgery with still non-contact all spring for us, but he'll be full go starting the summer. And we've seen from the first spring around here some of what this guy's capable of. So getting him back was important."
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Wide receiver Kyron Hudson was praised by Riley for his work ethic and the trust he earned from the coaches this spring:
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"I think he built on some of the foundation that he established last year in that he's an extremely reliable, tough player and if the ball is there, he caught it," Riley explained. "He made some great competitive catches. He is a really good blocker, did some really nice things for us on special teams. I think his goal and our goal for him is for him to take the next step as a receiver and make some of the explosive plays that he is capable of and take a bigger role in the offense. And I think he's certainly going to have a chance to do it."
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Riley reiterated Thursday that USC's program values character before talent. He shared how that mantra guides the decisions his coaching staff makes when evaluating prospects out of the NCAA Transfer Portal:
- "We've been very honest with these transfers about what we're building, how we're building it, what's expected from this end," Riley explained. "What those guys are walking into, and knowing that if that doesn't fit what the transfer really wants or is about that, we encourage them to not come here. And has that cost us some guys that we liked their on-field evaluation? Absolutely it has, but we can live with that. We're making that the priority."
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"We've just said if we feel uneasy about [someone's character] in any way, that we're just going to go a different direction and we've stuck to that and I think that's helped us," Riley added.
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USC's coaching staff has remained intact from Year 1 to Year 2. Riley shared how valuable that has been so far this offseason:
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"I think the way we're operating right now as a staff, the way we're communicating, the way we're working together, taking some of the knowledge that we all gained from last year, you see the value in the continuity right now," Riley said. "I see it on a daily basis and I'm excited because that's obviously the thought process that transfers over to the players. We do a better job with our players, a better job with the program. The players do a better job, and then obviously the product on the field gets better."
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"I think those in here on a daily basis can tell a difference," Riley added. "You can tell this year that everything is not brand new even for all of us as a staff and the way we are working together, not just the football staff, but even just within the university and the athletic department as a whole."
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To end his press conference, Riley shared what the next three months look like for himself and his coaching staff. He noted that USC's summer will consist of recruiting, as the program will host official visits and assistants will hit the recruiting trail next week. The staff will also apply what they learned from this year's spring camp:
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"It's kind of nice to be done with spring early because you now know exactly what you need to do. Spring clarifies a lot of where the team needs to head and then you start putting those plans down on paper," Riley explained. "And that's everything from the off-season plan, the nutrition plan, how you're bonding the team together, how you're teaching, how you're developing."
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"This is kind of the fun part of it," Riley added. "You start to have an idea of who all you're going to have on the roster and what they need to do. And it's a lot of planning and a lot of anticipation for the guys to be back here in early June because obviously it'll be very important for this team the next three and a half months, especially playing a Week Zero game. And with as quickly as this season's going to come, we've got to have an elite three months and really be ready to go on July 27th."
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