Alex Grinch bluntly assesses why Korey Foreman didn't play vs Oregon State

During USC’s win over Oregon State last week, Korey Foreman didn’t play a snap for the Trojans. Wednesday, defensive coordinator had one word to explain why the former Five Star Plus+ recruit didn’t play.

“Practice,” he told reporters.

Foreman has five tackles so far this year after totaling 11 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks as a freshman last season. He was the crown jewel of USC’s 2021 recruiting class, arriving as the No. 1 player in the country, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

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But after a follow-up, Grinch elaborated, saying it’s about more than Foreman. He called out the efforts of players on the defense and said the expectations are high no matter the player.

“The conversation isn’t about Korey,” Grinch said, via the Los Angeles Times’ Ryan Kartje. “The conversation is every guy in our program is evaluated from an effort and an execution standpoint. If you play at a high level, if you compete at a high level and you do so with extreme effort, we’ll not only play you, but we’ll start you and we’ll champion you.

“You can insert name in front and insert name behind, that’s the expectation. Some guys are doing it, and some guys aren’t doing it at the level we anticipate and expect them to. But today is another day. This week is a new week, and we’ll make decisions on Thursday in terms of rotations.”

Lincoln Riley assesses USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch

No. 6 USC hasn’t been the most stout defensive team in the country, but the Trojans have managed to get the job done when and where it matters most in a 4-0 start. Head coach Lincoln Riley has been very pleased with USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.

Grinch, who has some previous Pac-12 experience from a three-year stint as Washington State‘s defensive coordinator from 2015-17, has helped produce a defense that leads the country with 14 takeaways.

“He’s done a great job,” Riley said on the weekly “Trojans Live” program. “We’ve had to move some pieces around. We’ve had to try to find the right combinations, and we feel like we’re starting to get a better feel for our personnel and how we can utilize them and how we can attack people defensively.”